Ian - 2011 Wrap-up

As 2011 draws to a close, Ian has a few more accomplishments to add to his list.

*Ian now takes baths in the big bath tub. If he's by himself, it's an ok experience.

If he's with his sister, it's like he won the lottery.

*He now says mama, dada/daddy, hi, and bye. Those were in order of how often he uses them. He's still definitely a mama's boy. But he's still a man's man and loves remotes and hanging out in his diaper, playing on the computer.

*He has also started waving. But only if you wave first. And usually after you've already left.

*Despite the constant uttering of the phrase "He's going to be crawling any day now!" that has been repeated almost daily for the past several months, Ian still refuses to actually crawl. He loves standing and is getting quite proficient at scooting, but shows no interest in crawling or walking. But why bother? He's got lots of people to just pick him up!

*Ian is now transitioning to being a formula baby full time. We made it to 9 1/2 months and will fully transition by the time he's 10 months. At the same time, he's starting to use a sippy cup (with assistance). On a related note, Ian now has 4 teeth up top, 2 on the bottom, and at least 2 more on the way.

*Our little man is a big eater. He's really interested in table food and is frequently seen trying to swipe food off of someone's plate, even his cousin's.

(He was eventually successful.)

He loves pancakes, waffles, bread, peas, potatoes, yogurt melts, ice cream, cake (store bought or homemade), crackers (goldfish, townhouse, cheez-its, etc) noodles, yogurt...well, you get the picture. In addition to whatever he can have off of our plates, he'll often eat 2-3 containers of baby food, a handful of some sort of snacky food (Cheerios, puffs, etc), and then some water or formula. He's a growing boy!

(When he couldn't reach any more of his cousin's food,

he just grabbed the full pancake off of my plate!)

*As a growing boy, Ian is quite proud of how big he is getting and loves to show off that he's "soooooo big!" and then clap profusely for himself. Most of the time he forgets to do the "soooo big" part. But he's also very polite and will clap for you if you do it for him.

*Despite the fact that our little man is getting quite large, we still lug him around in his infant car seat. He can't wear a coat while he's in it, otherwise he doesn't fit, so we just tuck a warm blanket all around him and hope he doesn't untuck himself before we get to the car. It's a catch 22: If we move him to a rear-facing convertible car seat because of his size, we have to carry him around and can't just set him down. But we want to move him to the rear-facing convertible car seat because he's so heavy in his infant seat. We keep saying that we'll move him when it gets cold enough to warrant it. Since it was a pretty green Christmas, it may be a bit before that happens.

Happy 2011, Mr. Man! You've come a long way and we're thrilled to have you in our lives!

Oh, so hungry!

Our little man doesn't know how to read. Beyond the ability to draw that conclusion because he is not even a month old, I have proof. If he were able to read, surely he would have visited any number of websites that state that the average newborn gains 4-8 oz per week for the first month of their lives, up to 10 oz. How is this proof, you may wonder? Please recall that Ian weighed in at 7 lb 9 oz a mere 3.5 weeks ago. For those of you unfamiliar with the wonders of newborns, they actually lose weight right after birth and the hope is for them to be back to birth weight by 2 weeks. Ian had already surpassed his birth weight before he was a week old. By his 2 week appointment, he had already reached 8 lb 15 oz. And at 3 weeks, he was a plump 10 lb 8 oz. For those of you unskilled in math, that equates to more than a pound a week (remember, he lost weight right away!). He is packing on the pounds at a tremendous rate. And, as a nursing mom, last night was one of those points that you hope you never hit. We realized that I can't keep up with his appetite.

"Normal" babies apparently eat roughly 2-3 oz, up to 4 oz every 2-3 hours and slowly increase it as they get older. Ian will down 5 oz as if it was simply the appetizer and then turn beet red and scream at you until you feed him more. And then repeat the whole thing about 2 hours later. Sometimes only 1. Especially if it's between 10pm and 7am. Enter, formula. Anja didn't have a drop of the stuff until she was 11 months old. Due to Ian's appetite, he's already had 3 bottles of the stuff. I think he's working on bulking up so he can take on his big sister by 6 months. Or he is in to collection chins. Hard to say.

Day he was born:

Adding chins by 2 weeks old: