November 2009 - 14 months old!

At 14 months, these are a few things that Jake is doing

• He is a very social baby. When we walk into a room, he immediately says hi! to everyone. When we pick him up, he immediately says bye bye!
• He loves to play with his friends at daycare. This week we saw him and his buddy Gavin holding on to their walker toys and chasing each other around the room. Even more impressive, they did not crash into each other or anyone else.
• He feeds himself with a spoon. He like to feed us too!
• He has a funny dance that he does to the wheels on the bus go round and round which plays on his toy bus. He spreads his arms out as twists back and forth and then he spins around in a full circle on his bottom. I'll have to get this on video - definitely something we want to show off to his friends when he gets older.
• He loves to climb up the stairs and he knows how to climb down. He also likes climbing up the short step ladder I use to reach the top kitchen cabinets.

things I love about Jake Aug 2009

• He is a chatterbox! He talks all day long even when all the babies in daycare are crying around him.
• The way he scooches (is that a word?) backwards on his bottom to sit up from crawling.
• His combat crawl is awesome - he's so fast and deliberate when he moves.
• His laugh- baby giggles are the best!
• His new bunny puppet. He reaches out and hugs it and talks in a really funny voice - it's like he is talking with a very sore throat but he isn't.
• He plays peek-a-boo. Once daycare told me they just say the word peek-a-boo and he will start covering his eyes.
• He opens his mouth and says Ah when we brush his teeth (his papa taught him to do it). And he is actually not bad at brushing his teeth by himself - after getting a thorough cleaning from mama or papa, of course.
• The way his face looks when he sleeps. He sticks his chin up and his mouth forms into a frown.
• That I can nibble on his toes when he sleeps.
• He 'wais' for his bottle. Well - kind of - he claps his hands together anyway. Kind of reminds me of the way that Thai people train their dogs to wai.
• When he wakes up smiling.
• When he strokes my hair. He does often pull it, but actually does so gently.

Food wars

Jake is 11 months old soon and last week started refusing baby food. As soon as he sees it he grimaces and as you bring the spoon towards him he shakes his head and if you persist to put the spoon in his mouth he screams.

At daycare, they tried giving him freshly cooked green beans today and reported that he first mashed the beans with his hands, then fed it to himself. Essentially, it ended up exactly like the baby food they tried to feed him so I guess it's not the food that he is protesting but the idignity of being spoon fed by someone!

On a better note, daycare said Jake was helping teacher take care of a younger baby. He brought a toy ball over and offered to the baby. What a nice boy!

Jake 10.5 months old

Not much time for blogging, so have to limit to writing lists. At 10.5 months Jake is

• Very 'talkative' saying baba, mama, gaga, and a funny fvuh sound he makes against his teeth.
• Daycare report that he likes to play with his friends and will crawl around looking for them
• Daycare also report he is usually the last one to nap, waiting for all his friends to sleep first before crawling over to his crib for his nap.
• He usually takes 3 naps, morning, afternoon and evening. Sometimes he skips his afternoon nap.
• At home he likes to throw his toys then crawl after them, especially balls.
• He loves books and paper. When he finds a piece of paper on the floor he picks it up and waves it in the air for us to see.
• At his last doctor's visit, the doctor prescribed amoxycillin for a mild ear infection. After one dose, Jake got a rash but it didn't itch and he had no fever or other symptoms. I think it is a case of this antiobiotic rash that appears to be harmless and not an indication of allergy. The doctor thinks it might be a virul infection. He changed Jake's medication and told us to give him allergy medicine.
• Jake is now cruising. At his grandparents' house, he crawled over to the coffee table, pulled himself up to standing, and holding on to the table moved down the table to get his toy.

9 months old

My baby boy is 9 months old. Already, I started looking at his newborn pictures and saying to him - look how teeny weeny you used to be!

At 9 months, Jake is a happy and very social baby. He smiles at everyone (as long as he is not sleepy or hungry). He is very popular at daycare - just moved up a room this week which means he is the youngest in his new room. Most of his new roomies seem to be girls - the daycare reported that he is trying to chase after one of the girls - Sofia. I actually think Sofia is the prettiest baby girl in the daycare - he has good taste. Poor Jake though has only been crawling for 2 weeks and is not fast enough to catch Sofia. So...he is trying to get us to help him practice walking. We try to sit him down and he stiffens his legs so we have no choice but to hold him up while he practices his walking.

I have no idea how much he weights but we measured his height at 28 inches the other day.

Goodbye to Dequervain

Since January, I suffered from DeQuervain's tendonitis in my hand and there was a long list of activities that made me scream in pain, including:

• Changing Jake's diaper
• Brushing my teeth with my right hand
• Handwriting - even to just sign my name
• Opening a jar or bottle
• Cooking
• Using a knife
• Using scissors
• Opening a door
• Putting a seat belt on
• Getting dressed
• Turning a water a water faucet on
• Typing

After 4 months of physical therapy, medication, splint wearing, and finally a shot of cortizone the pain is GONE. I will not miss the pain but I will miss that Tristan did all the diaper changing, cooking, cleaning, etc.

Is it because of teething?

For the first time in a long time we heard reports that Jake was fussy at daycare and at my parents after daycare. He skipped his afternoon nap completely. Maybe it is because of his first two teeth sprouting up but I'm not sure. The deceiving thing is that he is pretty good when he is with us in the evenings and we do not see much fussiness in him. I guess he is so knackered after kicking up a fuss all day, by the time he is with us he just wants to sleep.

Jake is nearing the end of his 7th month.

Jake and his Grandpa (Khun Da)

Jake is now 7 months, 4 weeks old. His grandparents pick him up from daycare every afternoon and then we pick him up from their house. This is a video clip of Jake and his Grandpa when we arrived to pick him up.

First post- Jake at 16 weeks old

Jake is 16 weeks old. In the past week he started making a very high pitched screaching sound - usually when he cries but sometimes he will just make the sound even if he is not upset.
During tummy time he started pushing up with one arm but not with both.
He can sit in his chair for a few minutes before his head starts to bob.
He smiles a lot at anyone who pays attention to him.
He is especially happy during nappy changing time. He also had some happy moments this week in the mornings when we put him down on his activity mat for 10 minutes before we leave the house.
He usually sleeps from 7 pm, with a feed and change between 9 and 10pm and then he sleeps with just a little bit of a stir at 2 am. At this time we usually get him right back to sleep again without getting up. He wakes up fully at around 4am for a feed.