I write to you on a cold, sunny day in February. You are currently napping in your crib while your father and I work. I just realized in this moment that you will be 10 months old tomorrow. Unfortunately, you are not growing as well as we'd hoped. At your last doctor's appointment, you only weighed 12 lbs, 12 oz. You've seen a nutritionist to figure out why you're so small. You are very strong and very active, not at all sickly, just small. I can tell how much you've grown, but apparently, according to the doctor's charts and statistics, you should be at least 3.5 lbs heavier. We've begun feeding you more calories and carbs to hopefully boost your weight before your next doctor's appointment next week.
I had been breastfeeding you almost exclusively, which is apparently not enough. They make it sound like breast milk is magic juice and that's all a baby needs, but I didn't realize that you need more than that. Since you turned 6 months old, I would occasionally spoon feed you some baby food, but not all that often. In the past month I've increased the amount that you eat, but I wasn't feeding you the right things. Now we've got better foods, and even grown up foods, to give you and I can feel you getting heavier already.
You've tried and liked tuna, hummus, peanut butter, cheerios, among other things that I can't think of at the moment. I wish you'd be a bit more cooperative in the eating process, though. You only want to nurse, and it makes it difficult to feed you the things that will fatten you up. I am in the process of considering weening you, but it is hard for me to let go. The doctor wants me to stop nursing you at night and let papa feed you formula from a bottle but you absolutely hate both bottles and formula, so that is extremely difficult. You just cry sleepily until I give in and nurse you. We aren't too sure what more to do in that regard. So I've decided to continue nursing you 2-3 times at night and limit it during the day, only giving you baby food. It seems to be working so far but we'll see if the doctor yells at us for that or not.
We bought you a play-pen and it has been very helpful for mama. I can put you somewhere other than your crib now and not have to worry about you hurting yourself. You love to climb the walls and the furniture. You've hit your head many times but you've recently decreased the amount as your balance gets better. Everyday you crawl over to papa's guitar and play us a song. You'll slap it and pluck at the strings for a long time. You love it! You're fascinated by music and I hope you'll learn to play a few instruments.
You had one little tooth come in on the bottom during the last week of December 2012. As of the first week of February, you had 5 teeth pop in at once! Now you have 6 total. You look so handsome. We took you to the dentist to get fluoride on them and the dentist was gushing over how adorable you are. He said you were the star patient of the day and that you've made his day, even though it was only 11 am.
The only other problem you've got right now is one that's been continuous since you were a month old. You insist on scratching your face. They say that it's eczema and that it is itchy. We are hoping that we can find a way to treat it if not cure it completely. Your face is always red and it makes mama sad. I've used countless creams on it, some prescribed, some recommended. A couple of them make it better until you scratch your face up again. If you would just leave it alone, it would heal, but you don't. I slap your hand away and tell you No but you don't listen to me. It must really be itchy. I'm sorry. Hopefully you'll grow out of it soon. I'm tired of your face looking bad, and papa really wants to take some cute photos of you.
We spent your entire 8th month in Arizona visiting your papa's family. (Dec/Jan). We had a great time and everyone loved you. You got to play with your cousins. We all got sick for a week while we were there, which is part of the reason that the trip was so long. I think you picked it up from chewing on your cousin's toy and then you gave it to me and I gave it to papa. You sure hated when i would wipe your nose! But we got through it together and went back to having a good time. I think that trip is partially to blame for you being so small still. I feel as though the constant change had an effect on your eating and sleeping schedule and you just didn't grow during that time. It set you back. When we were there, you refused to sit or crawl on your hands and knees, but as soon as we got home, you suddenly did those things. You were happy to be back in your own element. I feel as though you've been growing and developing very well since then, but the doctors don't agree. Maybe all the fat babies with obese parents are beginning to alter the growth chart curve and the doctors don't realize it. Maybe not. I don't know. But we're doing everything we can to make sure you thrive!!
You played in the snow for the very first time today! You were wearing the same outfit that your mama and your two uncles wore when they were babies. It is black and white with a picture of Mickey Mouse on the chest, and the hood has ears. Here are a few photos from today:
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| This is your mama in January 1988 |
You were so curious about the snow! Your eyes were big and looked all around. When I set you down in the snow, you started rocking back and forth on your knees (you do this when you're happy), and then you dove forward into it and crawled a couple feet. I would have left you there to play longer but it was too cold out. We'll go again soon!!
Parenting is hard work and we're still getting used to it. Just know that we love you more than anything. Keep getting big and strong, okay? I know you won't read this until you're older, (if ever), but I'm telling you anyway.
Love,
Mama
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