The 11 Month Update

Rose at 11 Months

I thought for sure this would be the month that I post the update that Rose is walking, but not yet!! She teases us with all the cruising she does and has gotten very good at walking with mommy or daddy with just one hand.  Even her teacher commented that she has a wonderful gait. But, when you try to get her to take a few steps, she sits down and crawls over.  I'm looking forward to the momentous occasion, but know I shouldn't rush it. She'll walk when she's ready and walking takes parenting to a new challenge.  In preparation for this step, we installed a baby gate at the top of the stairs this past weekend (along with having to deal with a leaky kitchen faucet!).

Instead of a walking update, the main update for December was that Rose had her first legitimate illness, resulting in the first time we had to give her any medication.  We traveled for the two-week Christmas and New Year holiday, doing the trek from NC to Albany, to RI, back to Albany, and then back to NC. The trip up went relatively well, with an overnight stop outside of DC to break up the trip. Rose slept fairly well, and it gave us enough of a break to feel refreshed to continue the journey. We ended up spending most of the first full travel day in NYC, visiting with friends and babies in Long Island.  Going out to dinner with 5 kids under the age of 4 went much better than I could have ever anticipated! Once we arrived in Albany Saturday evening, we were able to stay through Christmas Day (Thursday). Rose was in good spirits most of the week and had a great time playing with her 4-year-old cousin Isabella.  The only issue we had the first week away was that Darwin had an upset stomach. Since we were leaving him in Albany while we went to RI, we decided to have him checked out at the vet to ensure it was not serious. The diagnosis was anxiety from travel and the prescription was an anti-nausea medication, which seemed to work well.

Having fun with cousin Isabella

The weather also cooperated for the first week of our trip. The temperatures were generally mild for a northeast winter (in the 40's and even got up to 50 one day!), and we did a little walking in Albany and RI.  Unfortunately, once the weather turned the second week, so did our little girl's health.  I made the (in hindsight stupid) suggestion to check out the library on a day when the weather was actually nice. Of course Rose put everything in her mouth so I'm guessing that was where she caught a virus.  She had a rough night on Monday and woke up Tuesday with a low fever that skyrocketed to 103.4 by Tuesday night.  It was the first time we gave her any medicine and we started with Children's Tylenol. Rose's pediatrician has on-call nurses available 24-7 and they were helpful in guiding us through the signs and symptoms to monitor.  With the help of the Tylenol, it seemed we kept Rose comfortable through the 2.5 days of a low fever. Her temperature never got back up above 102, so we thought we were in the clear.  With the second week winding down and entering into the New Year, we were ready to be back home, especially since it got so cold. We made the trip back to Albany on New Year's Eve so we could get Darwin, say our goodbyes to family, and have a day to rest before getting on the road again.

Our last two nights away from home (Thursday in Albany and Friday in a DC hotel) Rose was up almost every two hours. She didn't have a fever, but was clearly uncomfortable.  Since we were up so often, we decided to pack up around 6am and head home from DC.  We called the doctor from the road to see if we could get in during Saturday morning sick-child visits.  With 4-5 hours between DC and home, we weren't sure if we'd get back before they closed. Thankfully, they were still open, and were able to see Rose. It's good they did because the poor thing had developed her first ear infection. I don't know much about ear infections or how they are diagnosed, but the doctor almost missed it.  It was good to know what was causing Rose so much trouble (she never tugged at her ears, so I wouldn't have guessed it was an ear infection), but it also meant the first time Rose was put on antibiotics.  In our house, we are die-hard proponents of gut/intestinal health, so we made sure Rose had lots of probiotics while on the antibiotics.  She never had any diarrhea with the medicine and has been sleeping a lot better since she started it. We are still dealing with a dry, hacking cough, and I do hope that clears up soon.  Seems like everyone is sick. I thought it was from being in the northeast, but I think it's just as bad in North Carolina.

Our poor baby fighting her first virus and ear infection

As if being sick wasn't bad enough, poor Rose has also been dealing with two more teeth that are taking their time in coming out. Her gums have been red for a few weeks and I'm just finally seeing the whites of the tooth start to push through the gums. She currently has 4 teeth exposed (two top and two bottom). They are pretty good at helping her eat just about anything.  She still loves her meat and grapes. This month we also added nuts in the form of home-made fig/nut bars. Thankfully, she did not have any allergic reaction.  Rose also enjoys fish, but doesn't seem to care for bananas or avocados.  Her staples at school have been what we call "cocktail #2" for breakfast which is oatmeal with some prune juice, heated, with kefir (yogurt) added. We call it cocktail #2 for it's excellent benefit in promoting good bowel movements! Like I said - we are major proponents of intestinal health!!  For lunch we send a "main dish" which usually has meat (shepherd's pie, ratatouille with chicken or turkey, sausage/kale/bean soup), or sometimes is vegetarian (lentil tacos). She gets a fruit for dessert and/or snack. This week we've alternated between grapes, raspberries, or strawberries.  And then for an afternoon snack, she sometimes has whatever leftover food remains, or something like the fig/nut bar.  I kid you not when I say this girl can eat. Just about everyone is impressed with the variety and the quantity of food she eats.  We've still generally avoided the more common "kids foods" of cereal (like cheerios), packaged cereal bars, waffles, pancakes, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza, etc.  We know she will be exposed to these foods soon, but we will keep them away as long as we can.

Feeding herself Shepherd's Pie - one of her favorites

During the month of December, Rose spent the two weeks before the holiday break mostly in her "younger Sprouts" classroom with the 6 week-10-month-old babies. She was the oldest in the class and had only 4-5 others who were about 4-6 months old with her. She was the queen of the classroom, being the only mobile infant. We agreed to her spending some time each day in the older Sprouts class, where she would spend her days after break, as an opportunity to transition.  The two weeks away from school, coupled with getting over the ear infection was not the best way to transition to the older Sprouts class when we returned. It took 9 days before I was able to drop her off without a significant amount of crying.  The older Sprouts are kids 10 months to 18 months, so she is now the youngest in the class. Most of the kids in the class do walk, but there are a couple who don't.  The transition has been a bit hard on me because I notice she is changed less, naps less, and the drop off crying is difficult.  The first few days I kept receiving the same report that Rose was "fussy" - which is not exactly what a parent wants to hear.  There was one day where she only took 2oz of breastmilk and a handful of strawberries during a 9 hour day at school! I was pretty livid and let them know.  Since that day, and now after one full week, Rose seems to be adjusting better to being in the class. She still is only changed 3 times daily when she used to be changed 4-5 times, and I frequently drop her off to a class with lots of needy children and not many teachers (they have been out of ratio on several occasions in the older classroom - sometimes with one teacher to 7 or even 8 kids!).  With the director back in the school after being out sick for a week, it seems that the classroom is better at maintaining the appropriate ratio.  I'm not yet thoroughly happy with the school and the transition, but I'm going to give it some time.  It's hard to know exactly what goes on all day in school, and I'd rather teachers take care of kids and attend to them instead of filling out reports and logs for parents, but the highlight of my day at work is getting to see a glimpse into Rose's day (especially when they post pictures!).

At school and at home, Rose's favorite activity is pulling things off shelves or taking items out of boxes/bins/etc.  Over the holiday break, we worked a bit on putting things back into boxes or bins. When we were in New York it was funny to see Rose pull out all the toys from our friend's 2-year-old toy bin. As she pulled things out, he kept putting them back in. They were quite the pair.  Yesterday one of the teachers shared with me that Rose was dancing to the "music" a little boy was making.  She is a dancing machine and has no problem swaying those hips.  As you'll see in the videos, we often have a children's music station on Pandora while she's playing.  I love when a new song comes on with a good beat and she stops playing to dance for a minute or two.

This month I've also noticed a big change in her ability to follow commands.  If I ask her to share something with me, she will (or will at least tease me). If I ask for a kiss, she usually gives me one, although sometimes she teases me with kisses too.  She is almost always agreeable to "shaking," "dancing," and "splashing."

Her vocabulary is also starting to pick up. She makes lots of "sh" sounds.  Whenever she hears Darwin, she says "Deh-deh."  It's hard to tell the difference between deh-deh and da-da sometimes.  I sometimes get ma-ma-ma, but I think deh-deh is the most popular name she calls.  When I'm preparing her food in the kitchen, she has started signing for "food" by bringing her hands to her mouth.  She's often ready to eat!  We were doing really well with signing "all done" when she was finished, but it seems she has lapsed since starting school. I confirmed they use the same sign we do, so I'm not sure what that's about.  It's also hard for us to tell if she claps at the table to indicate "more" of if she's just excited/happy about something.

The best estimate we have is that Rose is about 20 pounds. I haven't measured her height, but one of her teachers often comments on her being short.  She still fits in 12-month clothes, and it starting to grow out of many of these items. I will admit that some of the pants are a little long.  I might have to start stretching her legs a bit more!  We'll get an update on her stats at her 12 month visit.

Speaking of 12-months, I can't believe Rose is almost a year! Thinking about her first birthday party is stressing me out a bit, but I am excited that we'll have lots of family in town to celebrate with us.  In just a few weeks I will also reach my breastfeeding milestone.  I know Rose gets most of her milk during the bedtime and wake up nursing sessions. I only pump 1.5-3oz during the day, but Rose seems okay with it since she's eating so much. She still has not had an ounce of formula and we still have a good nursing relationship twice a day.

We still do cloth diapers during the day and disposables at night.  I've gotten into a great routine of washing diapers twice a week, which makes it feel very manageable.

And now, for a few more pictures and a video of our doll. Check out the hair she's finally starting to grow (mostly in the back).  There are some curls in there!

Always cruising

Enjoying a North Carolina hike in early December