Little Dude - 14 Months

Age: 14 months

Weight and height: 19 pounds and 29.5" tall.


Wearing size: Size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes. 

Likes: Baths!  He learned how to splash in the bath right before his surgery in March and gets excited when I start getting the bathtub ready for him now.  He loves playing with the big kids and tries to follow them around.  He LOVES being outside and cries when the other kids go outside without him.  If they leave the door open, he'll hightail it over there to try to get outside.   

Dislikes: He begs for food now and hates it when we don't share what we're eating with him.  Because he still chokes easily and can't have dairy yet, we can't always share, but I try to find something on my plate that he can eat.  

Eating habits: His feeding skills have doubled in the last month!  Things he choked on a few weeks ago, he's able to handle just fine now.  He eats EVERYTHING by mouth, and the last time I tube fed him was March 28th!  He passed a swallow study with four different textures and thicknesses with flying colors last week so we have no concerns.  He hardly throws up anymore, and I think his reflux has improved.  He eats three meals and one snack a day and is even using a straw sippy cup!  He usually only drinks 1-2 ounces from it, but the other day, he drank all 5 ounces with no problem so we're on our way to phasing out the bottles.  He loves baby food pouches and I use them to supplement his diet after offering him table foods as he's not always able to eat enough of those in one sitting.
   
Last month, his GI and allergy specialists okayed him to eat gluten which has been great.  He loves crackers, bread, and pasta and the gluten free versions of those foods had a texture that he often choked on so being able to eat gluten has really opened up a lot of things for him.  We'll be introducing dairy to his diet too soon. 

Sleeping habits: He's been starting to phase out morning naps.  He still needs them about half the time, but I learned quickly that if he fights the morning nap at all, he won't take an afternoon nap so I've been watching his cues more closely to determine if he should lay down in the morning or not.  He hasn't been waking up quite as often at night and is down to 1-2 times.  That's not a big deal because all I have to do is give him back his pacifier. and he goes right back to sleep. 

Milestones: He learned how to army crawl up and over things such as the shelf on our end tables and is able to get up on his knees or into a sitting position when he's propped up a little bit.  Still not crawling on his hands and knees, but thanks to his protective belt and cloth G Tube pads, we've been able to avoid irriation on his tube site lately.  He's able to lean on something and stand for a few seconds at a time if I put him in that position.  He even was able to get himself in a partial standing position (leaning onto the seat of the chair with his legs straight) when he tried to climb up on our fisher price toddler rocker.  He's also turned into a little chatterbox which is adorable even though he doesn't say any actual words yet.  He says "mamama" when he's upset so I think maybe he's referring to me, but I haven't seen conclusive proof of that yet.
 

    
Miscellaneous: Around 7-8 months, Little Dude got 6 teeth in all at once and then didn't get any more for a long time.  Last month though, he finally started teething again-10 teeth all at once!  He now has a full mouth of teeth.  It was a little rough for a couple of weeks when he had so many teeth popping through the gums at the same time, but we survived and he's back to his happy self now :)  He has turned into a drool factory though!

Developmentally, Little Dude is still 4-5 months behind, but he's making amazing progress and his fine motor skills are right on track.  His therapists, his doctors, and I are all blown away by how fast he's progressing on some things.  I just have to keep reminding myself that although he's still not even close to walking, he'll get there in his own time.




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