Tayls of Life, Love, & Babies: Oliver

20lbs 6oz - 61st %
29 inches - 71st%
Head - 83rd%

His well-check was interesting. Fine motor, problem solving, speech, and social skills were all great. Gross motor skills aren't there so much.....no crawling, cruising, getting to sitting position. They're going to leave him be until his 1 year check because he sits, stands, and rolls well along with all other areas of development.

We saw a different pediatrician and she was not thrilled that he wasn't moving, didn't sleep through the night, and didn't eat much food. She almost made me feel a bit neglectful that I wasn't letting him sit on the floor with no toys and cry until he learned to crawl. She told me to give him a sippy cup of water and letting him cry instead of nursing when he woke in the middle of the night. She told me to give him a Cheerio and then shove a spoon of baby food in his mouth when he went to feed himself the Cheerio. Not sure how I feel about all that. I may try and make some changes but I think I'll go about it my way.

Oliver went to his first eye doctor apt on 8.15 at 9 months old. They dilated his eyes because of Gabs history. They said all babies are farsighted this young, and they are comfortable seeing up to +3.0 as normal. Oliver is +4.50. Good news is that both his eyes are the same (Gabs were def not). They want to recheck him in 6 months to see if/how much it's improved and make sure his brain is accommodating the deficit ok (no crossing, etc). Eh, good news I guess.

-Learned to throws balls and toys

-Likes to play ball - I roll it to him and he picks it up and throws it back. Loves, balls, doors, toys that he can make noise, splashing in water, and standing up.

-Started to dance this month (bounces to music)

-Actually moves around in his crib. Before this month he would kick his legs a bit, but otherwise would lay exactly where I put him down, all night.

-Likes to take a bunch of little toys out of a bucket, hit two toys together, or make noise with toys any way that he can.

-Says a "phrase" - "Ah-dah". Also says mama, baba, dada, rara, even makes an "ssss" sound among other random things. He's pretty vocal in his syllables for a baby.

-Oliver has tried a few new foods this month. He tried his first meat a couple of days ago - wheat spaghetti with mean sauce. He's had eggs, black beans, wheat noodles, peas, soy yogurt, tiny pieces of wowbutter sandwich, green bean pieces, cheerios, and puffs. I think Oliver would exist on milk and puffs/cheerios if he had the choice. He loves crunchies! He doesn't really like baby food or being spoon fed, but will eat little pieces of stuff a bit more.

-He still doesn't crawl, but he loves to be stood up at his play table and things. He hits the buttons as hard as he can and bounces and dances. He can roll back and forth on the floor to get toys, but doesn't barrel roll to get places. So I guess I'm saying he can officially roll tummy-back, back-tummy. Woo hoo.

-Learned to bounce on his butt and click his tongue.

-We went up to Alpena for the family reunion and Oliver's first time meeting my family. He did well on the car ride up - slept most of the time. But he was awful the whole time we were there. He just cried and cried and didn't want people near him. Our little Oliver had been taken over by a demon baby. Ugh. We were super smart, though, and left at 8pm (kids' bedtime) to drive home. We had a totally silent car ride and were home at midnight. It was great to see family, but OMax was horrid. We got home and Oliver was right back to normal....happy and smiley. Darn kid.

-Oliver got his first fever this month. The day before we left for Alpena Oliver seemed really hot and had a fever of 100.3. He had that for about a day and a half - may have been a reason he was cranky. Who knows, he never had any other symptoms and it went away on it's own.

-Still has four teeth - two top and two bottom

-Either 9 or 12 month clothes and size 4 diapers

-Went to the fair for the first time and rode his first ride - the carousel

-Is on a good schedule - naps at 10:30 and 3:00 for 1-2 hours each. Sleeps from about 8-7/8. He has been doing a bit better at night (sometimes), waking 1-2 times with some longer stretches in there. He's currently coming off a bad stretch so I'm not quite as excited as I was when I first started writing this post. He's slept through the night (8p-6a, then back down til 8a) about 5 or 6 times in his life.

-Nurses about 4-6 times a day (usually closer to 6) and 1-3 times at night. I try and get him to eat 3 meals/bites of real food each day.

Oliver and my Aunt Joyce. Pretty much the only picture I took in Alpena since he was being such an turd. As you can see.

And of course.....when we got home that weekend we went to the Taylor reunion and Oliver was ALL smiles so happy to impress new people with his adorableness.