Our Gift by the Name of Nolan: September 2012

It has been a whole month since the last post here. Time flies by so fast anymore it is crazy. Nolan is now 13 months old and he is growing and learning so much. In the month since his birthday, Nolan has mastered standing on his own. He has even taking his first few steps by himself. This happened on Saturday the 18th. He had taken what I suppose was a step a few days before, he put a foot forward and kinda lounged forward into the chair but I didn't consider that a step. On Saturday he actually took 2 steps on his own from his toy over to the chair. He has continued to try to walk since and has gotten up to 4 steps in one attempt. Pretty soon I am going to have a little walker.

On the teeth topic, Nolan has the two front and two bottom teeth. They are all still growing in, but they are all there, fully through, and almost 100% down. He appears to be getting the tooth to the left of his top front teeth also. It hasn't come through or shown itself yet, but it is swollen and he is always chewing his fingers. It's great that Nolan has some teeth now since he loves food. He will devour a plate of spaghetti and his favorite meal is hot dogs. For snacks I have tried fruit and such but he would rather animal crackers or his cheesy puffs. Oh, now that he has teeth, feeding is a challenge. He has started biting the spoon after every bite. Cute yes but it takes forever to feed him. Biting is something that Nolan loves to do. He bites me when he can, yes, he really does.

Nolan's one year doctor appointment was on 8/11. He weighed in at 19 lbs 8.7oz and he was 2' 5.25" long. His head measured 18.8cm. Although he is gaining weight the doctor stated that she was concerned as he dropped from the 10th percentile to the 5th. She advised that Nolan needs to eat more proteins during each meal and that he could start drinking whole milk.

We introduced Nolan to whole mike in his cereal only for the last month. On 9/25 I gave Nolan his first cup of milk. He was so funny with it. I guess because it is thicker than water it was different to swallow. He would get a mouth full and then open his mouth instead of swallowing. Of course it meant the milk went all over him, but it was cute. He seemed to like the milk and has been drinking at least one cup each day since. As for other food, the kid loves hot dogs, chicken, cheese, french fries, Cheerios, his cereal, and baby food pears. Everything else is a matter of forcing him to eat it. I can usually get noodles, some veggies, and maybe a banana into him but that's about it.

Sadly, Nolan has had to return to AI for another consult with Urology. It was been decided that we are going to proceed with surgery to correct his circumcision. The doctor said that it is mostly adhesions but that there is too much skin and it could cause concern later in Nolan's life. At this point we are waiting to hear back from the office to schedule the procedure, which will take about 60 minutes and the doctor assured that recovery is quick and pretty much pain free.

Just since his birthday, Nolan has begun to develop a personality. He laughs and giggles, knows when he is doing something wrong, sings, and enjoys some shows more than others. He started walking and has been on the move ever since. He goes all over the house and he gets a kick out of himself. It's just too cute.

I can't believe what a child can learn and achieve in a matter of thirteen months. It amazes me that this little baby we brought home from the hospital is already walking and doing things on his own.

Here are some photos from the past month: