10 Months

Emily, you are TEN MONTHS old today!

At ten months, you:

• weigh 22lbs 8ozs (75-90th%) and are 28 inches (75th%) long.
• wear a size 3 diaper, 12 months clothes, and size 3 or 4 shoe.
• take 25 ounces of formula. This month we have had to change your formula up quite a bit. The volume remained the same but the density was just too much. You started throwing everything up by the end of the day! The worst part was that you began all this fun while we were out of town. Your dietitian began the transition to the Periflex Junior formula, which is what you will be on at the age of one. Your formula currently consists of 60grams of Periflex Junior, 60 grams of Periflex Infant, and 18 grams of Similac Advance. You also get 105mg Phe from baby food. Whew, sometimes all the effort to feed you absolutely wears me out...but you're worth it.
• You are eating food like a champ. You have really taken to the baby food and are tolerating solids well. You can eat finger foods well and self feed. You don't love the bottles, but since the formula changes that has improved as well. You also drink water from a sippy cup. You prefer and do best with the cups with a straw, but you can also successfully drink from a cup with a soft spout.

• You have six teeth. Four on the top and two on the bottom. There are no iminent ones coming, I don't think, but you constantly have your hands...or something...in your mouth.
• Sleep wonderfully. At night you are still swaddled in your Woombi but you have begun taking naps without it. You have also begun crying every single time I lay you down to sleep. But it only ranges from just a few seconds to a minute and you stop. Just a phase, I suppose.

• Your Phe levels have been high this month. They haven't gotten over 10mg%, but for two weeks in a row, they pushed it. One of those weeks was when you were throwing up everything or not eating anything, so that is to be expected.
• Separation anxiety and stranger danger have begun. Anytime someone enters or leaves a room you cry (even if there are still people with  you and you know the person leaving or entering) or someone you don't know or don't feel like being social with approaches you get clingy or upset. It is that time but I'll be glad when this phase it over. :)

• You are constantly babbling, talking, and making noises. You can say da-da, Ella, and bye bye. You are good at imitating sounds that other people make and instigate play often.
• You can wave bye-bye, clap, bang on things constantly, and give the most wet, sloppy, and open mouth kisses.

• You are good at standing. You can hold yourself up for several minutes at a time, but you don't move your feet or go anywhere. 
• You aren't interested in crawling. You actually don't transition from sitting up to getting on all fours. When placed on your tummy you can go in reverse or "dive" yourself forward, but you don't do anything that resembles a crawl. You are also amazingly good at scooting yourself around while sitting up. This is mainly a motivation thing.

• At your Babies Can't Wait appointment this week, I was made aware of a couple of things that could be preventing you from getting mobile and some strategies to try with you. For one, you have over-sensitive soles of your feet. This means that you curl your toes under or keep your feet in a ball-like shape so that the soles don't have to touch things. Strategies that we are supposed to try with you: massaging the feet from the heel to toe to help desensitize your feet, exposing your feet to different textures (grass, concrete, cold tile, carpet, hardwoods, prickly feeling doormats, and even putting you in a container of rice or beans to stand), and keeping shoes on your feet to provide constant feedback to the soles.
• The other thing is that you pronate. This means that when you stand, your feet/ankles/toes curl under and you are actually standing on the sides of your feet. Lots and lots of children and adults pronate when they stand or walk, and although yours appears somewhat severe to your Intereventionist, this will only be a problem if it delays your development in walking. Allowing you opportunities to practice standing and walking and also providing you with supportive shoes for your feet and ankles (i.e. high top, firm leather, Stride Rite walking shoes...i.e. the not so trendy or matching shoes for this shoe crazed mama) may be something that helps. Only time will tell. But I'm praying for you like crazy and no matter what it takes to get you moving and moving properly, I know you will be doing it before I know it. God has every little detail in control!  

 

• And Ella. Gosh you just love her. You two laugh, giggle, and play all the time. Anything she does you think is just hilarious. And she loves it, so all this does is encourage her to keep going. It's about to get interesting around our house.
• You love the exersaucer, jump a roo, Incredi-cube, playing in highchair, any toy that lights up, and any stuffed animal. You can always find something to keep yourself busy.
  
  

Happy 10 months to you, Em! I love you more than you will ever know!