Myles Monthly: 8

As you may know, I didn't decide to start my blog until my son Myles was about 8 months old. And well... now he is 18 months old! So I am focusing on getting caught up with monthly updates and monthly favorites, so I can get, and hopefully stay, up to date with current times. 

  March 15th- April 14th, 2013

Statistics

Born: 7 lbs 6 oz and 19.5 inches
Eight Months:19 lbs 2 oz and 28.5 inches

  Health 
This month was not good in the health department. He got his first real cold. It was mostly just a runny nose, but oh my goodness, he can make his weight in mucus everyday! At first I used our normal bulb nose-sucker from the hospital. It had worked well enough before, so I figured it would be fine. However after days of no improvement, I was getting really irritated with that dumb thing. It really wasn't getting anything out and 2 seconds after I sucked him, he would be all congesting again. I decided to try out the infamous Nosefrida. I will say that this baby item is actually worth all the hype it gets! We also invested in some Boogie Wipes (also totally worth buying) and in about a week, he was all better!

This month also brought a new, terrifying 'habit'. One day Myles was hanging out in his crib (he liked going in there to be able to stand up) and I was sitting in the chair next to him. Out of nowhere, he started doing this scary head twitch: 

I tried not to freak out too much, but I wasn't doing a very good job at it. I posted the video on a mommy forum that I belonged to and asked what they thought. I also posted it on Facebook. I was going to make an appointment regardless, but I was trying to calm myself by seeing if anyone else had seen their child do it. Everyone who commented said that it was not normal and suggested that I go to the doctor right away. He didn't do it all the time, but a handful of times throughout the day was enough for me to be concerned. 
I made an appointment and showed our doctor the video. She said she really couldn't say what it was and set us up to get an EEG. Based on the results we would talk with a neurologist. Part of me was scared to get the test done, but my mommy intuition told me that it wasn't anything serious. I don't really know why I thought that, but being around him 24/7, I just felt it was something that he was doing for some goofy reason. 
But we had the test done to be sure. It was so hard watching him be all hooked up and then hearing him cry for me. We had to sit out in the waiting room while the test was done, and it was the longest 30 minutes of my life! Huge kudos to all the parents that deal with major issues like surgeries, illnesses, tests, etc. I couldn't even handle him crying and being away from him for just this little procedure, I can't even imagine what others go through. 

Waiting to get his EGG done

It was an agonizing couple of days waiting for the results. But then they finally came back, and thank God I was right. It wasn't seizures or anything else serious. Although we didn't get an answer for why he was doing the head shake, I was extremely grateful that it was nothing to be concerned about. He continued to do it for about a month; a couple random times a day. We had a few guesses as to what we thought it was (teething, his reaction to not wanting to be in something like his highchair, crib, car seat, or his way of dealing with over-stimulation), but we never got a definitive answer and eventually it stopped.


Eating
Not much new here this month. Still not wanting baby food at all. He did start eating more other foods though. He still liked sucking on fruit through his mesh feeders and he started trying Puffs and Mum-Mums. I tried all sorts of methods to get him to eat purees, but he would be over it within 3 bites. I tried the food pouches a couple times and he liked to suck on them, but he would never eat more than 1/3 of it at a time. So he was still mostly just sucking on fruits. 



Sleeping 
Nothing new to report here. Still doing all the same things as last month. His nighttime sleep was getting better; very slowly, but compared to months six and seven, I could see a difference. He was sleeping for longer stretches in the beginning of the night and throughout the rest of the night and morning. He still seemed so far from sleeping through the night though!

Outings

• We took Myles to the big mall about 45 minutes away from us for a little day trip. I was worried it wouldn't go over very well because he was going through a phase in which he hated being in his stroller and not being able to see me. For how long we walked around that day, he did really well. We took him out here and there to hold him, eat lunch, check stuff out, etc., but I was very impressed with how well he handled the stroller the whole day. We had to stop at the Disney Store and of course, I caved and got him a new Mickey (we lost the one he got for Christmas). He fought sleep so hard that day, by the time we were leaving he couldn't hold his head up any longer. He fell asleep in the stroller and then on daddy and then in the car seat on the way home! 

•  It finally started getting nice out this month, so we took every opportunity to go outside and enjoy the fresh air and scenery. My parents live right across the street from a huge park and playground so on the first day that it was nice enough, we hightailed it the couple yards to check it all out! He absolutely loved the swing. When he would swing towards me I would 'boo' him and he laughed and laughed!

We also did some playing in the yard: climbing trees, playing with balls, and checking everything out for the very first time!

That is a bench that used to sit at my grandparents grave site. A very special picture as Myles was not able to meet them before they passed.  

• Myles went to the indoor play place for the first time this month. We went with his cousins Ryann and Ayson.

• We were still going to swimming lessons as a family as well.

Milestones

• Belly laugh: I finally got Myles laughing on video. He knew the camera well, and if he saw it come out, he would stop laughing... every time! This video isn't very good because I was trying to hide the camera from him, but it's his first real laugh caught on camera. The easiest way to make him laugh was to take anything with a face and move it around in his face; pulling it back and pushing it towards him fast. (This also worked well with real people too. He always laughed when I went towards his face fast and made funny noises.)

•  First swing: This was from the first day it was nice enough to hang out outside. Since my parents live directly across the street from a park, I had being eying the swings for months. I couldn't wait to put Myles in there for the first time and see his reaction. The swing did not disappoint: he loved it, all smiles the whole time.

 

• Waving 'hi': Myles starting waving 'hi' or 'bye' this month. He didn't do it all the time, but he would wave if you asked him to or showed him first and said 'hi'.

• Crawling on the grass: This is most favorite video of Myles. I could watch it over and over. This was Myles' first real trip to the park and after checking out the swing and slide, we just sat him down in the grass to see what he would do. I did not expect him to react the way he did :)

• Big boy bath: Last month's 'bathgate' was pure torture and I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. So one night as we were approaching bath time, I decided to get crazy and see what would happen if he took a bath in the regular tub. It couldn't be any worse than what I already was dealing with, so it was worth a try.                  Praise the bath gods, it was a beautiful, joyous occasion! He loved it and didn't make a single fuss. After that night, I threw his tub in our sell pile and never looked back!

• First 'Boo-Boo': Well it was sure to come sometime. Ever since he started crawling and pulling-up, his (unwarranted) confidence skyrocketed! He wasn't super steady yet, but you would never know by watching the moves he would try. He would fall almost daily, but nothing serious... until this time. He was standing up next to an end table, when he lost his balance, and fell to the side right on his forehead :( I was super freaked out and called the doctor to see if I should bring him in. They said that he should be fine and to just watch for symptoms. He got a huge knot, but nothing other than that. I was probably more traumatized than him.

• First St. Patrick's Day: another first holiday in the books. We didn't do anything to celebrate, but I just wanted a reason to put this picture up ;) My mom has a huge box of holiday dress-up accessories and this hat was in there.

• First Easter: Myles also had his first Easter this month. We always do eggs together for Easter. I love thinking up fun and creative designs for the eggs. So of course, we had to get Myles in on the fun this year. My mom helped him stamp a couple of eggs and I made one with his name and year on it. He also loved playing with his basket full of eggs that grandma filled with treats. 

• On Easter Sunday we spent the day with family. We went to church and then had brunch with my parents and brother. Myles took a short nap on me in the car while we were waiting to go into the restaurant. Brunch was great and we took the time for a little photo op outside by the fireplace. Then we went to Mark's aunt's house to see his family. Myles got to see some family that he hadn't seen in a while and really enjoyed all the attention he got. 

Likes

• Myles was never into cartoons, kid shows, or movies. He had no interest if I put it on. We stopped watching TV when he was about 4 months old, so he just didn't care about it. I liked that he didn't want to watch it, but I had wished I could find something that would keep his interest for longer than 2 seconds for when I had to cook, clean, or if he was upset when I had to leave for something. My step-dad likes to watch music on NPR. They have a series called Tiny Desk Concerts that you can watch online. Myles started really showing interest in watching them with him. He really liked the bands with lots of different instruments. It was so crazy how he would just sit and watch that forever, but wouldn't even give the TV a glance.
• Being goofy: his personality definitely started to come through this month. The more physical things he could do, the more confidence he got and then the more stuff he would try. He was a busy-body and needed to check out everything. He was always making me laugh by the stuff he would try to do, as evidenced below:

• Birds: his extreme love of birds/ducks started this month. He loved looking at the birds outside on the bird feeder and even had a little collection of stuffed birds that made noises. He started making a bird noise himself. This was his first animal sound; he would yell "aht, aht" (like a duck call).
• Family: He was really starting to show love to other family this month (pictured here with Uncle Chris), He was still very attached to me, but he was getting more comfortable with the people he was around a lot. 
• Mickey Mouse: since we got him a new Mickey at the mall Disney Store, he started becoming very fond of him. He particularly loved to chew on his nose. 
• Balls: When I say that Myles is ball obsessed, I am not exaggerating in the least. Most kids have a pacifier or blanket, but Myles has to have a ball everywhere he goes. I keep balls in every room, tub, car, outside, etc. If he sees another kid with a ball and he doesn't have one.. GAME OVER...seriously. So we must bring one to all parks/play areas we go to. Looking back, I can tell this month was when the ball loving started. He had a favorite ball that he would play this game with (as seen in the video below). This was the best video I could get of it unfortunately, but he would take the ball, touch it to his mouth, throw it, crawl back over to it, and then do it all over again and again! 

Dislikes

• Stroller rides: it finally started getting nice enough to go outside this month. We went to the park a lot, but Myles would not stay in his stroller. He hated not being able to see me. He would twist and turn and then cry at me to get him out. This went on for a while, so I gave up on stroller walks for a bit. I tried distracting him or walking faster, but he was not having any of it. 

• Highchair: he also started to hate sitting in his highchair. When we went to restaurants he was fine, but he would freak out in his booster one at home. Since he still wasn't eating much, it really didn't matter, but nonetheless, it was frustrating. I decided to try out a new highchair. I was wanted to find one that was more like the ones at restaurants. Since I couldn't find one of those, I went with what I thought was the next best thing: the Ikea Antilop Highchair with tray. For $10 used, it was perfect for testing out. It wasn't a miracle chair or anything, but he did like it a little bit better. 

 

Come back to check out my favorites from months seven & eight!