Our Lima Bean Blog

Yep, that’s right. LB is now a few days past 13 months old, but we just had his one-year checkup at the doctor. Our little guy is in fine shape! Here are the assorted highlights:

• Soft spot on head completely closed
• Heart, lungs, ears, eyes, throat, and “unmentionables” all fine
• Development right along the curve, with height, weight, and head circumference in good balance with each other

One item we found interesting is how small LB is. He’s only 10th percentile in height and weight, but since his measures all keep growing right along the same curve together, the doctor says that’s just fine. And with his average head-circ, he’ll fit in normal hats one day. Seriously…the doctor made a comment about that, ha!

LB also had 3 shots – this time all in the arm as opposed to his meaty thigh. Whoa, was that a surprise for the little guy, and might I just say that he wasn’t really enthralled with it. But he quickly simmered down and was actually smiling and chatting on the way out of the exam room.

We fortunately scored an H1N1 shot for LB earlier in the week, so he’s one big immuno-boy this week. Hopefully all these pokes and prods continue to keep him healthy.

On another developmental note, LB has been struggling with sleep a bit. This is a surprise, since he’s been sleeping BEAUTIFULLY through the night since June. It’s also a little rough on us, as we’ve both gotten back to sleeping through the night. At least once per night the last few weeks, LB awakens, screaming, only to be soothed by the comforting arms of mommy or daddy, along with a bottle. Must have both. Leaving either out of the equation renders more screaming. We’ve been treating it as possibly a growth spurt or needing more energy during the night, but truly, I was worried that we were getting into a bad routine here. Seems the doctor agrees with the latter, and now we’ve got to put on our tough-parent roles again and not go dig him out of bed for a cuddle each time he wakes.

Easy to say right now. Ask us again at 2:30 am. Well, ask one of us…the other will probably be in LB’s room giving a bottle.

Any parent of a baby/toddler will tell you that new things happen all the time, it seems. New teeth, new foods, new clothes, new abilities. What an adventure!

But I have to tell you about something new that LB is doing, and it just lights up my day. Now, when he’s amused, he wants to share his joy. When something makes him grin or laugh, he usually turns right to Enrique or me to share the laughter with us. It brings such joy to my heart to laugh with LB rather than just laugh about him or around him.

Today, one of his teachers said that he initiated a game of peek-a-boo with a younger baby in class. LB would hide behind a crib, then peek out and grin at his friend. Both boys even got to laughing as LB would hide, then pop out with a smile and a wave. Too cute!

Lima Bean turned 10 months old earlier this week. For some reason, that seems really close to one year to me. Much closer than, say, 9 months did.

In honor of this occasion, Friday was a check-up day. A nine-month check-up, ha! We’ve gotten a whole month behind in our well-baby visits, but I’m sure that’s pretty common.

Turns out LB continues to be in fine health! Yay! And there were no shots with this visit, much to my immense pleasure (I’m sure as well as LB’s). Just had some questions about feeding for our little guy, as he’s really growing tired of the whole mom-feeding-me-with-a-spoon routine and really wanting to feed himself. We’re in the clear to add just about anything to his diet besides peanut butter and honey. This is sure to be an exciting time!

And it also turns out that LB is taking after his cousin Little Buchs and getting long and lean! He hasn’t gained much weight since his last check-up, but the doctor is not worried…just encouraging feedings whenever Lima Bean is hungry. I attribute a little of it to his lack of desire to eat at daycare, a situation which is kind of solving itself as LB becomes more accustomed to Educare.

We’re up to 7 teeth and a completely full head of hair. I just broke out some of our 12-month clothes, as we’re finding a lot of what we put on LB in the morning is stretched to its limits. LB is still crawling up a storm, cruising around the furniture, and pretty confident to walk from one item of furniture to the next as long as he’s still touching something. He’s also got a whole new realm of toys to discover and play with at Educare, and I know he’s excited  to play with those each weekday.

I feel that one-year mark sneaking up on us…I know it’s going to be here in a wink. Gotta hold tight to these times!!!

See this video for some play time with LB. He was full of smiles, laughs, snorts, crawling, and fun today!

Dear Mamita and Mama,

I’m ready to learn how to make tamales. When are you coming to visit again? Daddy assures me they’re yummy (RICO!), and that I will love them. I’m ready when you are!!!

Love,

Lima Bean