Thoughts from a Year

I’m borrowing this idea from other great bloggers and did some customization.I was hoping to update it every 6 months - but since Im starting at 1, maybe annual updates is all I can hope for.
I cant promise this will be in the least bit interesting, but it will be great for us to capture this info - so feel free to skip/skim!

Food
Describe what and how your child eats: We had a rough start on the food front (see 101 previous posts on food allergies, tummy drama and night wakings..) but now that we have figured out the main road blocks (gluten and dairy) we are doing well. We started solids at 4 months but it wasn't until around 6 months that she really "enjoyed" eating and then not until around 7 or so when I actually think she started to get nutritional value from what she was eating. Around 10 months she settled into clear "likes" and "dislikes." She LOVES eggs (will eat 3 with a small piece of toast for most breakfasts) and in general savory food (potatoes, pasta, chicken/turkey and most of all salmon or white fish). She doens't really care for most sweet foods -- Its pretty hard to get her to eat fruit and yogurt is only a recent interest. It was around 10 months that she decided she only wanted to eat what she could put in her mouth so out went the purees and we caved and started to get some packets to round out the eggs, strips of meat, pasta and potatoes. She also started self-weaning (from the bottle) around this time. She was never a huge fan of the bottle (or the boob) and once she mastered the sippy (around 7 months) it was also a matter of "tricking" her into sucking down a bottle or waiting until she was exhausted. We started the transition to goat milk at 11 months and this seems to be going well.

Sleep
Where and how much does your child sleep? Again refer to 101 previous posts on sleep. For the first 3 months of her life, I was the envy of every new parent, she slept SO well. Getting up only once or maybe twice a night from a few weeks old, but THEN we hit 4 months. Literally on the DAY she turned 4 months we headed out to CA for a month and a combination of the time change, my change in diet and other developmental shifts made for the perfect storm of disaster. She started waking up 5-7 times a night -- getting her back to sleep could be as easy as a quick nursing session OR 45 minutes of bouncing on a ball. After a completely desperate 3 nights near the end of 4 months, we decided to start sleep training. We had a fairly easy go of it...but it took us about a month (or maybe even 2) to eliminate all but one of the night wake-ups. Right around 9 months she started to be able make it through the night without a bottle but it cut her sleep down to 10 hours a night, meaning she woke up cranky and starving and still VERY tired. It took about another month to stretch her no-food zone to the 11ish hours of night sleep she needed, but we are finally (at a year) in a pretty stable sleep state (hopefully that wont jinx it). We took on nap training at 11 months and were pretty easily able to teach her too go down for a nap on her own.

A quick note on the *where* of sleep -- she spent the first 4 months in our room in a "sidecar" and then transitioned to her own room -- but until she was too mobile/wiggly (around 5 months) she was sleeping in the nap nanny. Not to sound like an ad for this overpriced piece of foam, but it SAVED OUR LIVES. She napped in her carseat until 11 months but with the nap training came crib/PnP naps.

Physical Development and Health
What is your child’s current size/weight: She has always been a good sized baby. Born at 9lbs and 21 inches she has maintained her place in the 75-90% for height and fluctuated between 50% - 70% for weight.

What about pee and poop? Poop is a big issue in our house. Izzy had a lot of constipation early on and had to have an ounce of prune juice at least once a day to keep it "regular" -- gas (and not reflux) was and is our worst enemy! Around 9 months (with solids) we hit an equilibrium where we have more good poop days than bad. She poops as soon as she gets up and I have a feeling that some morning she would sleep longer if not for the poop. Nothing exciting to report on the pee front, other than the fact that we have been pretty successful at getting her to pee on the toilet before her baths. We noticed that she always peed as soon as she got in the bath (even if there was no water yet) so we just started trying to hold her over the toilet before the bath and it worked! Who knows if this will have any impact on our potty training success..

Teeth? YUP. She started teething at 4 months -- we had a really rough bought with the first 2-4. She was a super cranky-pants and since she was so young had trouble holding teething rings, etc. At 12 months she has 8 teeth but is in the process of getting in at least one set of molars.

What, if any, health issues are apparent: GAS! Again, see 101 previous posts. What was originally diagnosed as reflux has turned out to be food allergies that cause horrible, no good, very bad gas....

Activity and Motor Development
Describe your child’s gross and fine motor skills: Izzy has always been very motivated to move! She was a bit slow to roll (I think this is due to the fact that we swaddled and had her sleeping in the nap nanny), but started sitting on her own at 4 months, crawling at 6, toddling at 9 and taking multiple steps at 10. She only really started running at 11 months, but has taken it on with gang-busters. She loves to play with balls, feed herself (with a "real" fork)-- actually she insists on it -- and play with instruments. She doesn't seem to have the patience for very fine motor tasks, but seems pretty capable when motivated (small food pieces, electronics and of course anything else "dangerous"). I should mention that we coaxed her to crawl and later walk using the best "toy" of all-- the iphone. Is she her mother's daughter or what!
What can your child do for herself? Not sure of the complete range of what she CAN do, because what she does is so dependent on what she WANTS to do. She loves to drink from cups (sippy or regular), feeds herself (finger food as well as spoon (yogurt) or fork (she can stab at bigger items or lets us "load" the fork before handing it off). She was able to hold her own bottle at 4 months and clearly likes to think of herself as pretty “independent” particularly now that she can walk. She can "assist" at getting her shirts on by pushing her arms through the holes (and by the same token does NOT help with the pants by yanking her feet out of the leg holes). She can get her toys down out of their bins and sometimes even helps put them away!

Language and Communication
Describe your child’s language abilities: Izzy has been signing for quite a while. In addition to bird, all-done, more, yes, no and milk, so designed her own word for "want" - which is obviously her most commonly used word. "Want" looks like a combination of milk and bird -- two of the things that she most often wanted -- but now she points at something and signs bird/milk = want. Izzy's verbal first word (at around 10 months) was dog -- clearly he is her favorite family member. She had been saying dadada..and her "concentration" word, a-Da for a long time, but "dog" was the first real recognizable word. Around then she also started to use Uh-oh pretty regularly and in the last two weeks she has also added "up" and mama - she seems to understand basic commands - no, bring me x, etc, and she chatters a ton, but no other "real" words.

Social Development and Environment
Can your child follow simple directions? Yes -- sometimes :) She is pretty good about “no” – other than when it relates to dashing up the stairs and can “throw a ball” or “bring me x” – again, only when she wants to.

How does your child react to family outings and visitors? She LOVES going out - to the park or other people's houses so she can explore. While she loves to look around when we are shopping, she gets pretty antsy in the cart (other than wholefoods where they have the most "fun" carts) and car rides can be hit or miss. She loves meeting new people, but in the past few weeks has been more "attached" to those of us she knows best (me, W, Bubbe, Zadie and her main daycare provider).

Does your child play with other children? YES!. Depending on the age of the kids, she will either engage them directly (littler children, she loves to go over to them, pat them and hug/kiss them) or stand totally awe-struck by older ones. She is in a family daycare with 4 older kids, ranging from age 3 to 18 months. She adores them, particularly the 4 year old who considers Izzy _her_ baby.

Toys and Play
List your child’s favorite toys and describe how she plays with them: She loves toys she can climb on/in (wheely bug, push carts or wagon) or those that require some engagement– ie putting balls down a shoot, little people in a house or stacking blocks. In the past few weeks she started to be able to put wooden rings on a post and stacking the larger fluffy blocks herself. She has never been that interested in soft/plush toys or rattles. Even before she was crawling she never liked the activity mat as much as cell phone. She LOVES phones. We have a series of toy and old cell phones laying around the house because they entertain her for a good 10 minutes every time she finds one.

What are your child’s favorite games? She likes games that involve her jumping around or being swung around. She used to love peek-a-boo as long as she could pull the towel off of our faces but it was short-lived. She also loves music so we have a lot of games that include signing songs or her playing an instrument – at this point, she has mastered the kazoo (her first instrument), shakers, tambourine, blocks, bells, harmonica, train whistle and just last week, the slide whistle. She also loves to take a bath. Sometimes when she is cranky before bedtime we get in the bath with her and she is totally content to play for another 30 minutes. Her absolute favorite thing to do is to climb the stairs. Since she started crawling months ago, it has been her all time favorite – she get SO excited when we let her go up them on her own.

Does your child have a lovey? Yes, 5 actually. We keep one in her diaper bag that travels with her at all times and 4 around the house. She generally likes to have one (or sometimes 2) within sight at all times in case the need for a quick snuggle comes up.

Feelings and Moods
Describe your child’s range of feelings (comfort, discomfort, pleasure, joy, anger, affection, fear, hostility, depression / sadness) and how she expresses them: She is a very very social baby. She gets so much excitement out of being around people and engaging with them. Her whole body radiates joy and she giggles uncontrollably when she runs around or we are tickling her. In general she is a happy, curious kid, but she is also REALLY stubborn. When she gets it in her head that she wants something it is impossible to distract her --This has been the case long before we thought it was possible that she have object permanence. She is not the kind of kid that is content looking at things, she has to touch-it, engage with it and move around it. She definitely gets bored and upset when she is cooped up or feels like she is being ignored. I don’t know if I have ever seen her really scared, but lately she has been experiencing some separation anxiety. She will be playing by herself and then all of a sudden look around to find one of us. She generally is content just seeing us/hearing our voice but sometimes she toddles over for a hug. If we aren’t in the room or are busy with something, she can get upset. In general, having a lovey around really helps. She also is very dependent on her pacis – she needs one to fall asleep and likes to have access to them during the day. If she is getting a little fussy or seems upset, she will grab one and stuff it in her mouth. Even when she is really upset, having a paci will generally calm her down very quickly.

What is likely to upset your child? Long car rides or having to sit in a stroller for a long period of time.

Describe how your child copes with discomfort, frustration, or other distress: If its something minor she will whine but lately has been able to track down a paci or lovey to calm herself. If she is really upset she will cry (very very loudly) or scream.

What makes her feel better? Paci, lovely or being allowed to climb up the stairs (always works!).

Other
Ive already written a ton about her sleep / food allergies but both are a huge topic of discussion in our house. She continues to have a really sensitive stomach and has never been a good sleeper but we aren’t sure how much the two are related at this point. She is able to put herself down for naps (for the most part) and bedtime (always) – thank you, sleep training! – but she still wakes up at night, sometimes she is really gassy/constipated and sometimes she just doesn’t seem tired or is otherwise hysterical. At this point, we generally leave her in her crib (unless she is screaming) and she will go back to sleep in a few minutes, but I worry that she never gets enough very sound sleep.