Hellobee

Charlie turns 9 months old today!

Sleep

Considering that Charlie has slept in 4 different places the past couple of weeks, his sleep is pretty great.  We also just transitioned him from 3 naps to 2 — the transition was literally overnight.  He was able to stay up 2 1/2 hours in between naps for months, then overnight he was able to stay awake 3-4 hours.  He even naps in his stroller now!  The transition to 2 naps has been a little rocky though.  Previously we just followed the clock and put him down exactly at 2 1/2 hours.  For months Charlie went down for every single nap without so much as a peep.  But the past 2 weeks Charlie has been fighting some of his naps maybe because we put him down too early, too late, or he just wants to continue playing.  Sometimes he cries for a minute or two before his naps but once he’s asleep, he’s usually out for at least an hour and a half… thank goodness because I need those breaks!

He’s still sleeping through the night and he still wakes up at the crack of dawn around 5:30am.  But I’ll take a predictable morning wake up over middle of the night wakings.

5:30am – Wake up
7:30am – 9:45am – Nap #1
1:15pm – 3:30pm – Nap #2
7:30pm – Bedtime

This playground has a great enclosed area for younger babies like Charlie. He can crawl around without older kids running around.  Plenty of bars to practice standing and cruising…

Food

Yesterday someone called Charlie “so chubby.”  It actually amazes me how chubby he is because he eats so much less than every other baby his age I know.  I just hope that doesn’t mean he’ll grow up to be a chubby kid and adult!

With all the madness that was going on over the past month, Charlie ate mostly Earth’s Best Organic jarred baby food instead of freshly prepared baby food.  He actually eats jarred food better than fresh food — preservatives are tasty.  His favorites are the veggie and poultry flavors.  He hates all the sweet fruit flavors like apple, pear, and banana, because he’s a weirdo.  He also hates anything tart like apricot, strawberries, and tomatoes.

We’ve been experimenting with baby led weaning, but if we left eating up to Charlie, he would hardly eat anything at all.  So far we’ve tried tofu coated in puff dust, carrots, green beans, pasta, and lemon.   He probably liked lemon the best.  The one thing that he does love is anything crunchy — Happy Bellies Puffs, Cheerios, and Mum Mums.

Wazzzzzzzup!!!!!!

Weaning

I completely weaned Charlie 2 weeks ago because he was getting hives through the pesticides in my system.  I pumped gradually less and less for two weeks until my milk supply dried up.  Stopping cold turkey would have caused painful engorgement and possible clogged milk ducts.  It wasn’t that bad.  I was really sad about weaning because I was planning on making it to a year, but I’m at peace with my decision now.  The best part is I can finally sleep on my stomach — I haven’t slept on my stomach in over a year, and it means I can drink again!

We started Charlie off on Similac Advance formula, but recently switched to Earth’s Best Organic.  I don’t know if Charlie is eating less because he prefers breast milk to formula because babies are supposed to consume more formula than breastmilk, but he drinks less formula, and he even dropped a bottle with the dropped nap.  He’s only getting around 20 oz of formula a day now because he regularly doesn’t finish his bottles.  He still doesn’t like solids that much either.  He eats 6 ounces of solids on a great day, and 2 ounces on a bad day.  He does love his puffs though.  I am worried about how little he eats, but he is still a chubby boy with chunky thighs that continues to put on weight and grow taller and poop daily.

Milestones

Charlie’s biggest milestone this month is learning how to clap!  Now he’ll clap any time we do.  He waves sometimes, but not as consistently as clapping.  His personality is really coming alive now, and he’s so much more active!  He’s a wriggly little monster that bites me (hard!) and pinches me with his amazingly strong grip.  It’s tiring just to watch him play.  He’s been standing for over a month, but he still can’t get enough.  He has to stand and bounce all day long which means I’m always nearby making sure he doesn’t fall over and hit his head.  He also loves bobbing his head up and down whenever music plays or he’s in a good mood.  It’s the type of thing that parents think is adorable that no one else probably cares about.

I can’t believe he used to be such a shy baby that cried when strangers held him.  Now he’s almost always the most outgoing baby on the playground, laughing and smiling at everyone.  Someone comments every day on what a happy baby he is.  I feel very very lucky for my little monster!

Hello fellow Asian baby. Let us stare up at the sky together.

Many parents of toddlers and older children told me to enjoy the newborn phase when they can’t move because it’s easier then.  It is harder physically because Charlie is so active now, but it was difficult in a different way when Charlie was a newborn.  The first 6 months I didn’t know what I was doing, and I was so worried about everything.  Now I’m much more relaxed and feed Charlie lemons.

Charlie spends about 5 hours a day at the local playgrounds. I don’t know what we’ll do to keep him entertained in the cold, snowy winter because he loves being out and about!

Even though being a parent is an exhausting 24/7 job, not a day goes by when I don’t think about how lucky I am to have Charlie.  He is pretty wonderful.