Samantha’s 16.5 month update

Figures, as of 13 October:
Weight: 12.8kg (900g increase, 97th percentile)
Height: 81cm (1.5cm increase, 80th percentile)
Head Circumference: 49cm (no change, 99th percentile)

Samantha’s weight has now caught up with her head, and her height continues to strive to catch up. As you can tell, her appetite is rather large, and we make every effort to provide her with as much good food (i.e. as little sugar as possible) as she wants. At present, she loves mandarins and bananas.

All this growing could also be attributed to a growth spurt that we’ve been witnessing for the past few weeks. Sam’s speech has really started to develop, and lots of problem solving has been going on. She loves to sit down and put shapes in holes, figure out how to put shirts on and off, and work out what she needs to move to access that thing that is just out of her grasp. She also calls out for “Da”, “Daddy”, “Ma”, “Mum”, and “Mummy” at various times of the day, and she’s happiest when she has both her parents in her sight. Her other favourite word is “Hi” and waving.

Samantha is a cheeky little thing, despite popular opinion that she couldn’t possibly give us any trouble, or that she just doesn’t scream. She likes nothing better than to open the sliding doors (glass and screen) if they’re left unlocked and running from the house, either down the front stairs and down the drive way, or out the back door, through the back yard and down the driveway. Luckily, she doesn’t do any of this silently, and I’m very glad that she only runs while saying “ahhhhhhhhhhhhh”.

We now have 14 teeth. All molars have now been cut, in addition to the two canines on the left side of her mouth. I had been previously told that the canines were the worst to cut, but apart from some extra chewing on things, I haven’t really noticed.

Here is a picture from Sam’s first time at the beach:

Samantha’s 15 Month Update

Time for Samantha’s 15 month update. She is coming along in leaps and bounds – well, not literally, not yet anyway. She has, however, developed a desire to climb. The latest accomplishment is climbing up into her high chair, at it’s highest setting. Of course, the higher she climbs, the harder she falls, and she does seem to be rather accident prone lately with lots of eggs on heads, a couple scrapes, and quite a bit of crying.

I hope it warms up at night soon, because Sam is rapidly growing out of her winter pyjamas, and is rather difficult at this time of year to buy more, given that the shops are now full of summer clothing. In fact, I’m about to go and buy her pyjamas for the summer to come, so I might get lucky and be able to get some bigger winter pyjamas on a clearance rack.

In an attempt to stave off temper tantrums that occur as a result of frustration, we have been teaching Sam as much baby sign language as we can manage, which she is taking in very quickly. It comes in very handy when she really wants something. Unfortunately, just because she can say that she wants a biscuit at breakfast time or after dinner doesn’t actually mean that she will get a biscuit, which still means a temper tantrum LOL. As well as biscuit, she knows and uses strawberry, more (better translated as “I want”), all finished (or “no”), food, swing, bed, water, milk (very similar to water), up, and she’s developed her own sign for cuddle. Her verbal skills are developing more slowly, but part of that will be because I’m not the most vocal person in the world. However, she does point at things and want to know what they’re called.

She is now running, and trying to jump. I put her on the couch the other day (which she’s just discovered is bouncy) and she got excited while watching Bananas in Pyjamas. Unfortunately, she bounced too close to the edge and quite literally bounced a somersault off the edge of the couch. All this crying breaks my heart, but the reason for the crying nearly always makes me excited for what she’s trying to accomplish.

Sammy feels it is her job to help us as much as possible, and while this is very useful in the laundry (she packs and unpacks the washing machine quite easily), it has become very un-useful in the kitchen. She helps unpack the clean dishwasher quite well, but she also “helps” unpack the dirty dishwasher, stops the dishwasher once it’s running (our next dishwasher will definitely have a child lock on the controls), turns the oven on and changes the thermostat temperature on the oven when it’s meant to be running. This can make running the household quite frustrating for both mum and dad, but it’s the hand we’ve been dealt, so we’ll deal with it.

While being a parent can be frustrating, it is also very rewarding with the giggle and smiles and love that a child lavishes on you. I certainly wouldn’t trade Samantha in for anything. God has appointed me to be Samantha’s mother until such time that He chooses for either one or both of us to leave this earth, and I’m okay with that. Okay, I will now cease attempting to end this blog on a good note, and leave you with a picture of Sam drawing with her crayons.

Samantha’s 14 Month Update

Sam has graduated to size 1 pants, and she wears size 2 shirts (although Aldi seems to be a size smaller in everything but pyjamas, so she’s in size 2 Aldi pants and size 3 Aldi shirts). She now weighs about 11kg.

Sam is starting to run, although at this stage it’s more of a rapid swinging of the legs outwards (I’m guessing this is normal). She has pretty much mastered walking up and downhill, and has started to tackle stairs with gusto. She has even figured out that sometimes she has to turn around and go down backwards. She has also started to figure out how to ride a tricycle that she has to push along with her feet.

Sam now says “nanan”, and understands what “nono” means. She has also started figuring out how to hiss, so I’m starting to try and teach her to say “Sammy”, and also her “big brother’s” name, Simmy (short for Simeon). She says “zeezeezee” when she’s particularly happy.

Sam has started laughing a lot and finding reasons to laugh, particularly at me. She likes to “A frame” and look back between her legs, and thinks it’s hilarious if I copy and look back at her. She’s also developing ticklish spots, and loves it if I run or jump or anything of that nature (either towards her, away from her, or while carrying her).

Sam has also developed an aptitude for getting into the pantry, pulling down a box and destroying said box in an attempt to access the food located inside. I’ve had to clean up quite a few messes as a result.

Left: Digestive 1st - Right: Jatz

Left: Corn Flakes - Right: Wasn’t me, Mum!

12 and 13 month update

Hi everyone, and my apologies for not getting a 12 month update out. Life has been a little crazy in our household and by the time I had a chance to write Sam’s 12 month update, she was already 12.5 months old, so I decided to combine the two.

Sam is now well and truly walking, and we’ve bought her her first pair of shoes. She’s coping with this quite well and already understands that putting on shoes means that she’s going outside. She has size 5 feet, a size 0 waist (for now) and size 1/2 everything else, depending on whether the neck is a set size or not. This is because Sam has a 48.5cm head circumference, which is actually off the chart in percentiles for her age group.

Sam was measured on 23/06/14. Her previous measurements were 6 week previous. My growth chart app stops showing exact percentiles once the baby reaches 12 months old, so the percentiles will be a bit vaguer from now on.
Weight: 10.65 kg (increase of 850 g). >85th percentile.
Height: 76.5 cm (increase of 2 cm). Middle of the 50th to 85th percentile.
Head Circumference: 48.5 cm (increase of 1 cm). >99th percentile (off the chart).

I asked the nurse about the sudden increase in Sam’s weight, concerned that I’m doing something wrong, but she wasn’t worried because (as she put it) Sam’s always been a “plodder” and now she’s catching up.

Sam has learned a new word in the last few days, “nononono!”, although she doesn’t know yet what it means as she’s just babbling it so far. She also looks at me and says “Mama” and looks at DH and says “Dada”, showing that she understands who we are.

Sam’s birthday party was a bit of a shambles due to the fact that she had a bad reaction to her 12 month old immunisations (mental note to self, next time, get needles AFTER the party). She had a cough, snotty nose, spotty rash, and fever, so needless to say, she wasn’t a particularly happy camper. This continued for about two weeks, and then she came down with an actual cold. Poor thing hasn’t had a non-snotty nose for a month now.

Sam has a love for swings and slides, and anything else that gives her an adrenaline rush.

 

Left: Sam’s party table. Right: Sam’s party dress.

Left: Sam’s hair is now long enough for a ponytail. Right: Newborn to 1 year old.

Whoops! 11 Month Update (for 29/04/14)

Whoops! I totally forgot to do Sammy’s 11 month update. I swear I have good excuses! First of all, it was my 8th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately (and second of all), I spent it curled up in bed with the mother of all period pain cramps, made worse by the fact that I couldn’t take my faithful Naprogesic because it’s not safe to take while breastfeeding. Somehow, I also managed to get a bout of nausea as well, so I was very wholly reminded of all the points I didn’t like about pregnancy (just in case I was starting to get clucky) and felt very miserable for 1 1/2 days. But, enough about me…

Sammy hasn’t started walking yet, but she does take the odd couple of steps when she’s feeling particularly clever (as in, even more than usual). She now says quite a few words: Mama, Dada, huwoh (hello), ya (yes), du (duck), and ba (bath). There’s probably a couple I’ve forgotten. I’m trying to teach her to say “up”. She’s also starting to understand and obey simple commands, such as “come here, please”. She waves hello and goodbye too. She has an evil genius laugh (u-huh-huh), and she loves to play hide-and-seek and peek-a-boo.

She excels at cleaning out draws. She also likes to go around pretending to be Mummy, putting things into and pulling them out of baskets, buckets, washing machines, washing hampers, dishwashers, etc. She can climb quite proficiently up and down steps, and she can scamper uphill very quickly on her hands and feet. She’ll try anything that’s put on her plate once, but if she doesn’t like it then she won’t be coaxed into trying more. She still loves fruit, and she got her 7th tooth.

She was weighed and measured on 31/03/14, and it had been six weeks since her previous appointment.
Weight: 9kg, 68th percentile, 700g increase
Height: 71.5cm, 49th percentile, 1.5cm increase
Head Circumference: 46.8cm, 97th percentile, 0.8cm increase

Sam’s 10 month update

Wow! 10 months! Only 2 more months until Sam is 1 year old!

I don’t have any measurements to share this month, as they’re not being taken until Monday, so I’ll definitely have some measurements next month. I think she’s grown about an inch!

Sam is still getting breast milk every day, but I am exclusively pumping for her twice a day thanks to the little biting problem. This has meant a steady decline in supply, and as I don’t fancy doubling my pumping sessions, I have chosen to supplement with formula at night. Tonight was the first night this happened, and she seemed to like it well enough. I’m completely fine with this and can’t wait until I can stop pumping at 12 months. I never loved breastfeeding, but I do enjoy the financial and immunological benefits.

Sam really enjoys feeding herself, and she prefers to not be watched, so I take this time to pack the dishwasher so that she can eat in peace. Don’t worry, I’m still in the same room as her! I’m just not sitting in front of her watching her eat. Fish is a definite favourite food, along with any fruit and toast.

Crawling has well and truly been mastered, and now Sam is working on coasting, walking with one or two hands steadying her, and crawling up and down single stairs (the step up and down over the doorsill).

She is sleeping fairly well, although she does have the odd night or day where she won’t go to sleep. She normally has a very good reason though and rarely gets to that overtired point.

Still no mama and dada (well, consistently anyway), but she has been laughing and giggling a lot more lately. She babbles all the time and still tells us that everything should be said “ba ba ba BA”. She has also developed this habit of going “uh-haha” when she’s about to get up to mischief, which is her version of chuckling. She also does have sounds that she uses to get my or Brad’s attention, and they are a unique sound for each of us. During the morning, it’s all about Mum, then during the afternoon it becomes all about Dad (until there’s a problem and Dad just isn’t understanding her, at which point she seeks me out), before becoming all about Mum again just before bed. She loves to have a good tickle and giggle in the half hour before bed time.

9 Month Update (Wow!!!!!)

7 February 2014: “Sam, NO!” “Bababababa” These are the two most common sounds heard in our house at the moment. Sam is crawling, pulling herself up, getting herself back down, and coasting around the furniture, and yesterday she started babbling. She has said both “Dad” and “Moomee” once. She’s also started trying to say duck, which she has developed an obsession with.

17 February 2014:

Weight: 8.3kg, 56th percentile (400g increase)
Height: 70cm, 55th percentile (1cm increase)
Head circumference: 46cm, 96th percentile (0.8cm increase)

28 February 2014: Seeing as there is no 29th of February this year, I am claiming this to be the last day of Sam’s ninth month of life. Now, let me see if I can remember everything she’s doing that I haven’t already mentioned. She is starting to occasionally experiment with standing unsupported, and she is crawling really well now. She’s perfected the bum flop when she’s tired of standing up or feels unsteady.

She’s starting babble in different sounds, and sometimes says “ma” or “da”, as well as various other sounds. If I say “mamama”, she’ll answer with “bababa” and we end up having quite the conversation. She is learning how to knock on the toilet door when I’m in there, and she’s just figured out how to wave. We are also trying to teach her baby sign language so that she can try and tell us what she wants instead of just screaming about it. She also is starting to understand spoken instructions, and will “hop/get down” and will pull her hand back when I say “no”.

She has also figured out how to slide the sliding doors open, so we have to make sure that they’re locked at all times, including when I go outdoors to hang washing out (so I have to use hinged doors that I can definitely close).

She has cut three teeth since Saturday, and I expect there’ll be another one tomorrow morning. That makes a total of five/six. She’s down to two milk feeds a day, but these are coming from a sippy cup as she developed quite the biting problem. We’re coping fine with this new arrangement, and I’m enjoying the extra cuddles she’s lavishing on me as she’s now missing out on the nursing cuddles.