Knowing that Arden is my last baby has allowed me to relish in every bit of her tininess and just enjoy the stage she is in without really wishing it away. On the flip side, it makes the passing of time tug at my heartstrings so much more. I can't believe how far away her newborn days seem. And then I look at Ryann and can hardly believe that she ever was a baby and did I miss it all? These days are so fleeting and it chokes me up more than I care to admit. I understand all those sappy old ladies in the grocery store. It's not realistic to enjoy every single damn moment with your kiddos, but you have to absolutely cherish what you can because these moments are gone in a flash.
wipes my tears
Arden! Sweet girl is growing and changing so much and becoming more and more fun every day. New challenges of course but so fun. At her nine month appointment she weighed in at 14 pounds 8 ounces (3rd percentile) and was 26.5 inches long (11th percentile!). While she is still a tiny little thing the pediatrician felt comfortable no longer having regular weight checks. She has continued to grow at a slow but mostly steady rate since 4.5 months so I'm just going to enjoy her looking like a tiny little baby for as long as I can. I tried to weigh her on my scale on Monday (the 12th) and my best guess is 15 pounds 2 ounces or so. I'll be thrilled if she hits 16 pounds by the time she turns one.
The only other points of conversation at her appointment included constipation (a serving of prunes every other day still can't keep the kid regular) as well as her gross motor skills. Arden has been much much slower to become mobile than the other girls which had (has, let's be real) me a bit worried. But just like her growth, her progress in that department, while slow, has been steady. She is now army crawling all over the place and loves to explore. She also really enjoys pulling up on things, but doesn't get herself into a seated position on her own yet, therefore she often doesn't realize many opportunities to try. She is thrilled when I offer her my hands to pull up with. And recently she has started to enjoy 'walking' while holding my hands. It is awkward and I can't say she completely grasps the concept just yet, but she has fun doing it!
While she still does fairly well being toted from activity to activity, Arden isn't quite as content to just sit in my lap or be held anymore. The desire to crawl gets her every time. Most recently when she was at dance with Elsie, Thea and I, I wound up letting her crawl on the floor of the small mall the studio is located in. Her sleeper was so gross and dirty by the time we left but she just was not at all happy when I was trying to hold her.
Arden's sleeping and nursing schedule has pretty much remained the same the last couple of months, though I think we are the verge of a change. She goes to bed around 8pm, has been waking about 4:45am to nurse, and then up for the day around 7:30. She takes two naps, at roughly 9:30am and 2:00pm, each lasting about 90 minutes, give or take. The afternoon nap is usually the longer of the two. In between all that sleeping she nurses about five times and eats lunch and dinner. Arden still very much loves purees as long as they aren't a straight green vegetable. She has also been doing fairly well with table foods. The only thing she has truly turned her nose up at are eggs. Why do none of my children like eggs?!? I'd be happy to scramble some nearly every morning if someone else would eat them. Spaghetti is a very clear favorite. Well the noodles anyway. She ate some meatball if I put it in her mouth, but steered clear of it when picking food up off her own tray. She also seems to really like carrots.
We have had one instance where after eating some cinnamon and brown sugar bread, little red spots popped up around her mouth. Nothing drastic or too concerning, but I did notice. And cinnamon is possibly a cause of a similar reaction in Elsie. So who knows, maybe I have kids with a cinnamon allergy? It's strange. Otherwise no real ill reactions to any foods including strawberries and peanut butter so that's good. We've started offering her a straw cup with water in it, but she mostly just plays with it and throws it on the floor. I know she has managed to get water out of it a time or two, but not very much. I'm looking forward to offering her the full blown Thanksgiving meal. Her third tooth just starting popping through maybe ten days ago? But it isn't visible unless you're really looking.
Most recently, Arden has been, I guess, startling us? For fun. She does this little growl with a sudden jerky motion and just laughs and laughs when I act like she scared me. I think the entertainment is mutual, I have no problem playing along because her giggle is so sweet. One day I took Ryann, Elsie and Arden to Target. We were just walking along, Arden in the cart, and she looked at a random stranger and let out a big growly rawr. The man was taken back at first, and then laughed. I was surprised she clearly directed it at a stranger.
She also really enjoys when I make animal noises. She gets a big grin on her face if I meow like a cat or bark like a dog. I think she tries to meow but who the heck knows what she is doing. I need to go through our books and pull out more that have animals in them because she'll only sit still for one if there are parts to touch or plenty of animal noises for me to make. Arden does like to help me turn the pages, she uses just her little index finger to slip between the pages and flip it over. So cute!
Arden hasn't said any words yet, but babbles up a storm. She is beginning to point at things and show a bit of recognition of items when we ask her to locate them. Just a bit. She says mama and dada but not with any sort of meaning. Mostly says mamamamamama when she is upset and da da da da on repeat. Lately it sounds like she is saying 'yeeeah yeeeah yeeeah' a lot which can be rather entertaining.
Another thing Arden has really picked up in the last couple of weeks is 'dancing'. When we're playing music sometimes she'll go absolutely nuts. Waving her arms, shaking her head, clapping her hands, just kind of bouncing all over the place. She sometimes puts her play phone up to her ear, or rather just kind of holds it up against her head. She loves pulling a pile of toys out of a container. It doesn't really matter what toys or what container as long as she can dump it piece by piece all over the floor. Recently we were in the playroom and she pulled several things off the shelf, moved on to the play kitchen and managed to open the cabinets and empty it's contents, and then crawled off to another space to explore. Can't exactly say she is the clean one of the bunch any more.
We celebrated Arden's first Halloween in the past month. She was dressed as a bunny to fit in with the girls' enchanted forest theme. She left the ears on so I'll call it a win. We didn't take her trick or treating, just left her home with my parents to pass out candy. But she seemed to be getting a kick out of the kids coming up to the door. Until she got overly tired of course.
Overall Arden is just a joy. We have our moments, but mostly she is just an easy going happy baby and I am so incredibly grateful for that.
Arden Rae I love you so very very much!
No comments:
Post a Comment