100 Words

We went to Miles' 15-month check up on Friday (a little over a month late) and he's the picture of perfect health. Right on track with his height, weight, and development. While waiting for the nurse to give him his vaccines, my mom and I were reading over the handout from the doctor's office on babies age 15-18 months: "By 18 months, he will have a vocabulary of 4-10 words." My mom and I chuckled and agreed that he probably has about two dozen words under his belt by now. 

So, we got home that evening and started to make a list out of curiosity. By the end, we had tallied about 100 words that he not only verbalizes, but understands and regularly initiates on his own. No wonder I sometimes wish he has a mute button. I thought about documenting some of them here, but for lack of time and energy, I neatly tucked that list in his baby book (which I will update someday when I have more free time). 


And I would be remiss if I didn't document his newest "smile". It's a combo stinky face and cheese face from long ago. I get it whenever I ask him go smile for the camera -- hopefully a short-lived phase.

Eleven Months

Miles was eleven months old yesterday. It's been a very busy week, so I didn't get the chance to take the usual photo with a sign. We did take a special outing this afternoon though up to Mississippi Avenue this afternoon and had lunch and a beverage at Prost. The beer was cool and we had a corner bench outside, so Miles could roam. While the beer garden was fun for us, the backpack was the best part for Miles. He loves being toted around on Jesse's back. He later crashed and took a nap on the walk home.

Stats:

Weight: 21 1/2 pounds

Height: Too wiggly to measure

Food: Has gotten a bit more selective about what he shoves in his mouth, but favorites this past month have been nectarines, plums, watermelon, baked tofu, pesto pasta, Ken's baguettes.

Likes: Reading books (and being read to), being cuddled, playing with his trucks, and rearranging our furniture.

Hates: Diaper changes, putting on clothes, having his face wiped.

Tricks: Walking like a pro (and trying to run), saying words like Da Da, Doggie, Bye Bye, Ma Ma, Mah-ma-mah (banana), clapping in praise (for himself), and dancing.

10 Months

Miles is 10 months old today. The last few weeks have been pretty rough. He's been teething up a storm and going through some pretty serious Wonder Week drama. Even though he's an emotional roller coaster some days, it's amazing how much he's growing and changing into an even more awesome little kid. 

Stats:

Weight: 20.4 lbs
Height: coming soon
Food: Anything we're eating as long as we serve it on our fork or spoon
Tricks: Taking several steps at a time, communicating with some signs and babble, getting really good at mimicking our actions, and knows when he's doing something he shouldn't (shakes his head no). Also, just this second, he started clapping his hands. Rad.

9 Months (Stats)

Miles went in for his 9-month checkup today (a week late because his mom neglected to make the appointment on time).  I filled out a questionnaire about motor skills, communication, and social activities and he scored very high in all categories -- meaning he's right on track with where he needs to be. And of course insanely talented (no bias here).

The pediatrician assured me that his refusal to eat with a spoon is perfectly normal and that he may soon change his mind about purees. Or not. Either way he's perfectly healthy and Jesse and I are doing the right things by offering food that he can pick up and supplementing with breast milk and formula. However, she suggested that we not give up on the spoon entirely. This may just be a phase.

Stats:

Height: 29" (71 %)
Weight: 19.8 lbs (34 %)
Head: 18" (60 %)

I was kind of surprised at his weight. We clocked him in at 20 pounds a couple of weeks ago. However, he was holding on to the side of the scale today when he was weighed and also, I'm pretty sure he just went through a growth spurt. He was looking super chubby when we were down in Houston, but now he looks really long. That coupled with the fact that this kid never stops moving. He is the busiest baby I know!

8 Months

Eight months! I don't know where the time has gone! Just a few months ago we were marveling at his crawling skills, and now we're holding our breath as he practices his balance while standing and routinely escapes from his furniture barricades in the living room. He shocks us daily with new tricks that he's learned -- and scrunches up his little nose with delight at his accomplishments. We're looking forward to the next month of surprises. 

Stats: 

Weight: 19.4 pounds
Height: Coming soon

New Foods: Broccoli, roasted chicken, pork, wheat. 

Tricks: Miles is much better at using his fingers to pick up food (and any microscopic thing hanging out on the carpet). He started cruising along furniture and walls and often checks his balance by letting go. Yesterday, he attempted to do a pull up on the small cupboard that we have in the dining room and he's learned that his leg bends and lifts. With these two skills, it's only a matter of days until he successfully climbs on top of furniture. In a matter of weeks, he's managed to outsmart most of our baby-proofing efforts. And that hair. It deserves an entry for its own set of tricks:

Seven Months

How can it be? Seven months already?

Stats: 

Height: 26 1/4" (either the dr's office was wrong, I mismeasured this time, or he shrunk)

Weight: 18.6 pounds

Foods (somewhat in order of preference): Pears, sweet potato, cottage cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, banana, carrots, peas, lima beans, green beans, roasted pepper, squash, kale, brown rice, beets, peaches, chicken soup, avocado. Up next? Broccoli and roasted cauliflower.

Tricks: Miles started using his "pinchers" to pick up bits of oat cereal and successfully got a few into his mouth yesterday. Also, he successfully dropped a million soggy ones onto the floor. 

He started testing his balance for a few seconds while standing today. Look Mom! No hands! 

Is just about to bust out two new teeth. Can you see them?

 

Has perfected the art of nose wrinkling and brow furrowing.

Is focused and determined....

And in my (totally biased) opinion, the cutest thing ever.

Six Months

Happy Half Birthday to Miles! 

Weight: 16lbs 13oz (34th %)

Height: 27 1/4" (77th%)

Head: 17 1/4" (53rd %)
Sleep: 3 naps, 6-8 hours at a time at night

Tricks: Miles is even better at crawling, is now pulling up on furniture, and starting balance wobbly on his knees. Also, discovering various body parts (belly skin, ears, nose, feet and his nethers) and loves to pinch and pull at them. Still enjoys eating, even new colors, textures, and tastes!

Four Months

I'm a few days late posting about Miles' four month birthday. The chaos of the holidays left me little time to blog. Miles went in for his four month checkup today, so here are the stats:

Weight: 15lbs 6.5oz (56th %)

Height: 24.5" (28th %)*

Head: 16.5"  (35th %)

Sleep: Not much

As you can see, Miles has stayed about average in his weight, but is falling behind in growth for height. I swear his torso keeps growing at lightning speed, so he roughly has the proportions of a wiener dog. I'm sure his eyes will permanently roll in the back of his head someday when he finds out I compared him to a stumpy canine. What? The numbers don't lie.

He may be short, but he's strong as an ox (or a nine-month-old). The pediatrician was once again stunned by his feats of strength -- he now pushes himself up so far on his arms that they completely straighten and he flings his body forward in attempt to crawl. In another daring feat, today he stood unassisted by me while just holding on to some of his dangling toys. Both Jesse and I were pretty stunned.

* I remeasured him at home and got 25", which puts him more in the 38th % for height.

Eleven Weeks

Weight: 13lbs 8oz.

Length: 24"

Miles was eleven weeks on Saturday. After a long week of giving us hell, it's a miracle that he's not living in a dumpster on Flanders Street. However, it was like someone tripped his reset button and he was back to his normal charming self. In fact, he's the new and improved version of himself. As a special eleven week birthday present to his parents, he slept for eight hours straight. He then woke up, ate, and slept another three. We had friends in town, so we stayed up way past our bedtime and were only able to take advantage of four of those first eight hours, but it was amazing. I brushed it off as a fluke. 

Yesterday we went out to run a few errands and ended up coming home just before dinner. Miles hadn't really gotten his normal naps and was a tired little man. We put him down at 6:30 and he slept until about 9:00. Preparing ourselves for a long night of wakeful sleep, we changed his diaper, put on pj's, fed him and went to sleep at about 10:00. I heard the little cries of a very hungry baby and looked up at the clock. It was 5:30am! He'd slept for almost eight hours again! I'm certainly not calling this a trend, but there may be hope for us after all.

Two Months

Weight: 12 pounds 6 ounces (67th percentile)
Length: 23 1/4" (59th percentile)
Head: 15 3/4" (46th percentile)

Miles is two months today. He went in for his two month check-up yesterday afternoon and passed with flying colors. In fact the pediatrician was quite surprised by his "bag of tricks". The first surprise was when she came over to examine him. I stepped away from his view and he got the most amazing sad pouty face because I was gone. She said "Oh no! oh no! You're not supposed to do that for another two months." For the rest of the exam I stayed by his head so he could have constant eye contact. 

When she raised him up by the armpits to check his leg reflexes, she was quite shocked that he not only was letting his feet touch the ground, but was bearing a considerable amount of his own weight -- another trick that he's not supposed to do until 4ish months old. I think we might need to start baby-proofing at a slightly more rapid pace.

One Month Old

Miles is one month old today! We weighed him earlier this week and he's about 10 1/2 lbs of pure baby chub. Jesse and I picked out an outfit especially for the photo shoot this morning. He seemed to dig the snap shirt.

He also enjoyed some smooches from his dad.

Two Week Check-Up

Miles went in for his two week check-up today and he's doing well. The pediatrician walked in and said, "How's my little chubster." And he is a chubster indeed:


Weight: 9lb 8oz (64th percentile)
Head: 14 3/4" (50 percentile)
Length: 21 1/2" (71st percentile)


His weight gain was about 13oz in a week. Dr. Sears says that the average breastfed newborn gains about 4-7oz. a week in the first month. No wonder his newborn clothes no longer fit!

Birthday

Miles Chamberlain 
Born on August 28, 2010 at 9:04pm
8lb 15oz, 20 2/3 inches 

Likes/Dislikes

Likes:

• Soccer, both live and at bars.
• Playing footsie with people and internal organs.
• Waking up at 4am.
• Baths.

Dislikes:

• Bedtime.
• Hiccups.
• Dopplars.
• Tight pants.