Weight and height: 17 pounds, 6 ounces and 28 inches long. For comparison, at a year old, Princess was 17 pounds, 13 ounces and 29 inches long, Little Man was 20 pounds and 31 1/2 inches long, and Star was 17 pounds and 29 inches long.
Wearing size: Size 3 diapers and 9-12 month clothes.
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| My little monkeys wearing matching shirts! |
Likes: He loves attention and pretends to be shy now by ducking his head into my shoulder when someone smiles back at him. He likes to put things in something and take them back out again (for example, putting toys in a bucket). He loves army crawling all over the house, and we have to be super vigilant about things on the floor because he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth and chokes easily. At least several times a day, you can find me hurdling furniture to sweep his mouth with my finger and pound on his back. I've been very close to calling 911 because he was starting to turn blue, but thankfully, I've always gotten him breathing again before it gets to that point.
Dislikes: He doesn't like having things taken away from him and will scream and cry. For example, here's his face after I took a crayon away from him:
Eating habits: BIG news here! For the last several weeks, Little Dude has been trying to catch up after not growing since November due to being sick so much. When he was sick, his motility slowed down so much that I had to vent him at every feeding because of the extra air in his stomach (which happens when food sits in the stomach longer). When I would vent him, the entire last feeding would still be in his stomach, even several hours later. His GI doctor diagnosed him with illness-induced gastroparesis (paralysis of the stomach) which has since resolved itself. Now, he's actually been HUNGRY and asking for food, and then more food. It still blows my mind that he cries because he wants food. I actually had to increase the amount of his feeds because he was finishing them and crying for more. I've hardly had to tube feed him at all since he started this. I know that it may not last, but we'll take what we can get!
We're in a transition phase of trying to lessen the amount of formula he takes in lieu of solid foods. Right now, I'm still tweaking his feedings, but the goal is 4 solid food feedings (baby food) a day with several opportunities to practice eating table foods as well and then however much formula he wants to drink after that. It's slow going since he has such a strong gag reflex and chokes easily, but I know he'll get there eventually. He likes eating solid foods, but hasn't been very happy about getting less bottles.
Because we don't know for sure if he has any food allergies or Celiac's Disease (we were told that a test showed a strong possibility of it), for the time being, we are not giving him gluten, dairy, or soy. He'll be having more testing done soon to determine what foods are safe for him to eat.
Sleeping habits: He takes a morning nap from about 9:30 am to 10:30 and an afternoon nap from about 1 pm to 3 or 4 pm. He sleeps okay at night, but does still wake up several times. He usually goes right back to sleep when I give him his pacifier.
Milestones: No new milestones this month, but he's been getting better at sitting unsupported. We're currently working on getting him to crawl on his hands and knees instead of army crawling on his tummy because being on his tummy that much is irritating his G Tube site and causing breakdown of skin. He wears a special belt when he's on the floor now and that seems to be helping to protect his G Tube, but we still need to get him up off of it.
Miscellaneous: His therapist has put his development at an 8-9 month level which seems very appropriate to me. He may be a little behind, but he's making progress and that's what's important. Every once in a while, I get a little sad that he's so far from where my other kids were at this age, but my best friend helped me get some perspective on that that's really helped. She pointed out that he's my last baby, and I get to keep him as a baby a little bit longer.
I tallied up Little Dude's first year, medically speaking. Some of the numbers, I wasn't 100% sure on since I didn't start marking everything down in my day planner until we were several months in to his medical journey.
Procedures (included 1 surgery and 2 sedations): somewhere between 15-20
Blood draws: somewhere between 10-15
Hospital stays: 5 (14 days total)
ER visits: 8
Doctor appointments and therapies: 80
That's more than my other three kids combined and that's just in his first year!
Don't forget to check out the first annual Little Dude's Birthday Blessings Bash that takes place the whole month of March!
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