Porterfield Family @ theBABYjournal.com

June 30^th 2008

9 months

Friday June 27 Aidan turned 9 months and we went to the doctor for check-up. Luckily Aidan was only due for a Polio shot. He did great as always, did not cry at all. Even when the nurse stabbed him with a needle (there is no other way to describe it) he just cringed and made a whiny sound. It seemed like he was going to cry, but then decided that it was too much effort.

He is 22 pounds, 29 and half inches long. I guess now we can say ‘tall’, because he stands up.

The doctor was very happy with his development.

Aidan is cruising and crawling all over the place. We keep moving things around the house, because he discovers new ‘toys’ every day. Of course, the ‘toys’ he discovers are not for babies.

I guess the biggest was dog bowls. He went crazy splashing the water around, he was all soaked as well as the floor around. He had a lot of fun! Now, we have to pick bowls up whenever Aidan is on the main floor, because it is the first thing he goes after!

Next big thing was tub faucets; he figured he can turn water on. So now we have to keep him out of our bathroom or he will waste all water (he prefers the hot water faucet).

He also loves his tub and all the objects he can throw in it and then try to get them out. Needless to say he is not allowed to go in his bathroom either.

We have a fake plant in the basement, and it has moss in the pot, instead of dirt. Of course it is super fun sticking one’s hand in there grabbing as much moss as one can and throwing it all over the place, including one’s mouth.

Anything with knobs is great fun too…I can go on forever!

Aidan started using his thumb and forefinger to pick up small things. He loves to use his forefinger to poke Charlie’s eyes. Yesterday he was digging in her eye and she did not even bother to move, since her head was on my lap. I guess she figured that it was better to lose an eye than move off my lap.

Aidan has lost all interest in Jumperoo and Excersaucer. Who needs that when you can move around on your own! Excersaucer is used to throw toys in and climb underneath it.

He still loves to play with balls. He seems to prefer the purple one. He throws them and then chases after. He throws them on the couch/table etc and then retrieves them.

Remote controls are popular too. We just let him have those. Large dog bones are good fun, especially if he can get them from dog’s mouth. Charlie just gives them to him.

Aidan has learned to give things back if we ask. He has also learned to do ‘high five’ and even wave ‘bye-bye’ sometimes. He makes kissing sound if you ask him for a kiss, and will happily blow raspberries all day long if prompted. I am trying to get him to place objects in certain places. He did pretty well with the remote control. He usually takes it off the side table, so I asked him to put in back, which he did after a couple of tries. He sort of understands 'no', if we say 'Aidan NO' he will stop and turn around and wait for our reaction.

We are still waiting for top teeth to cut. The gum is all big and swollen, but they are not cutting yet.

Aidan Jay @ 9 months, 3 days
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 11:56 AM | Comment

June 10^th 2008

Among some other things...

I forgot to mention that Jason got his laser eye surgery done and I got my wisdom teeth pulled. We are doing great.

The surgery did not even feel like a surgery. It was a 10 min thing. Laser does all the work. I was able to watch it and it was a bit uncomfortable when the doctor was lifting the flap, but otherwise seemed very simple.

Jason's one eye is 20/20 and the other one is 20/40 right now. We were told that it takes about three months before the eyesight balances out. Jason will get another surgery to correct the 20/40 eye.

My experience with teeth pulling was great. I had IV sedation. Only one tooth had to be cracked, the other ones came out without any problems. I was a bit sore, but nothing major. I was able to eat normal food and brush my teeth next day. Took prescribed pain medication for 2 days only. All in all, it was nothing like the horror stories everybody was telling me.

Aidan Jay @ 8 months, 13 days
News posted by Lena and Jason at 2:44 PM | Comment

June 9^th 2008

8 months

Our last update was in April… Time flies!

A lot has happened during May!

Aidan got two bottom teeth and now is getting ready to cut two top ones! So it was not a cold that I thought he was having last time I posted.

He did great while the teeth were cutting. No problems at all. I am hoping top ones are as easy. Right now they are just huge bumps in his gums; I am expecting those to start cutting in a couple of weeks. He has been a little bit on a sensitive side, but it could be his age too.

Talking about age…He is 8 and a half months and pretty much mastered crawling! This is crazy, because just a couple of months ago I was complaining about his lack of interest in belly-time and sitting. Now he absolutely refuses to lie on his back, which makes diaper changes extremely uncomfortable for Jason and me. Just imagine putting a diaper on a baby who will only stay still if he is on all fours!

He loves crawling after toys, so we play ‘catch’ a lot, but without actual catching, I guess it is more ‘chase the ball’ game. Most of all he likes to go after tennis balls that belong to Charlie. Those two will be playing together in no time.

Speaking of Charlie…She is so amazingly good with Aidan! She does not bother him much at all, but will come over and sniff him. He usually gets all ticklish and makes funniest faces! Every now and then he will try to climb on her, she would just lie there. The other day Jason told me that he had to separate those two, and I assumed that the dog got too excited, but it turned out that Aidan was the trouble maker.

We have to keep an eye on him all the time now. A couple of days ago I caught him licking the refrigerator. I guess seeing his own reflection was intriguing for him, so he figured that it may taste good too. There he was going up and down the refrigerator licking it.

Did I mention that he is ‘cruising’ too? He walks around using furniture and anything else he can find. That puts him in a perfect position to grab any object off the furniture. Remote controls and my laptop are most fascinating, as well as phones. Toys are not interesting at all, since they are easily available on the floor.

Aidan is maturing emotionally as well. I like to call it ‘mature immaturity’. He has become whinier if you like. Now he gets upset when one of us leaves the room, or when we would not let him lick refrigerator for example. Sometimes he will get all upset if we try to take a toy away, or pick him up while he is trying to get somewhere.

He is still pretty much on the same schedule. Up at 5:30 am and down for the night around 9pm. He eats every 3-4 hours, takes naps between each feeding. He does not particularly like to nap, since it involves lying down. We pretty much have to force him to nap. We lay him down with his head jammed against something soft (that’s the only way he likes to sleep) give him a pacifier, give him a rag and hold him down, while trying to gently pat his butt. Meanwhile Aidan screams as if were killing him and throws his body around trying to roll over and crawl away. In about 10 min he gives up and falls asleep. I wish there was another way to get him to nap. Unfortunately if we do not do this, he will not take a nap and will turn from a happy smiley baby into a very cranky baby, and believe me cranky baby is not fun. Night time is the only time when he just passes out.

We have moved Aidan to his own room; so far it’s been OK. He wakes up around 3 am and as long as we give him his pacifier he goes back to sleep right away.

We have also started new day care. Our original care provider quit. She is having some health issues, which may cause black outs, so having an infant in care was not a good idea. Luckily we were able to find replacement pretty quick. It is another family care in our neighborhood. They have the whole basement of the house remodeled for daycare, with a separate kitchen and dining area, huge play room and a sleeping room. Very baby friendly with minimum furniture and tons of toys. Right now they have Aidan and a three year old girl.