Tom

This is the first in a series of four entries - one for each kid - to catch everyone up on everyone.

First up - Tom!

 Up on all fours!

 Being fed - Oatmeal and prunes. Yumm. I've never had to resort to prunes before. I little more effective than I anticipated. He even liked them - they made the oatmeal taste like raisins.

He can sit too!

Thing are going great with Tom. He's still a little guy, but he's growing the same way he always has- slow and steady. I keep meaning to stop by public health to make sure he's doubled his weight, but it's challenging to get multiple kids in and out again without help. The scale is in a room filled with toys, and the lobby has a fish tank all the kids like, but he's due for a check-up, so I'll get an answer soon. According to our house scale he's somewhere in the 16-18 pound range. 

We started on solids just before Thanksgiving, after a string of long, sleepless nights. He's now up to two large meal a day, and is going through a good spell - falling asleep around 10 or 10:30 at night, and sleeping through till morning. It's nice! I know it won't last, but it's nice. My secret weapon is this Greek yogurt I found. When John was a baby, I was given all these super-strict rules of when to tart certain foods, and other that were strictly off limits until certain ages. I used it for all of the kids.  Then Mike went in with Tom to have his last round of shots, and the nurse tells him not to bother! Apparently now anything goes. So instead of filling up my scrawny little guy on applesauce, I went out and found fattiest yogurt I could - it's filled with protein, fat, cholesterol. All the good stuff babies need. It's 10 per cent fat. I may as well feed him sour cream, except the ingredient list is literally milk, cream and bacteria, so it's way, way better. I got the idea at Thanksgiving, when he was lunging at my pumpkin pie. He didn't want the pie - it just made him grimace. But he managed to get his hands on my whipped cream, and chowed down! It was just cream, and apparently anything goes now,  so I let him have more...and more...He ate easily half a cup of whipped cream, then slept for 12 hours! Obviously, something he was lacking, so the hunt was on for a healthy substitute for whipped cream, and there was this yogurt. And he loves it! He gets all excited when he sees the container, and if I hold it near him, he'll lunge over and stick his whole face in! It's pretty crazy! I made a few mistakes with it, like feeding it too early, because he always has a nice long nap right after. If I do it too early, he wakes in the night. Now I feed him a big bowl mixed with fruit right at bedtime, and he sleeps, he's happy and he's growing!

He's doing pretty well with all his milestones. Not surprising, with so many sibling to watch. I really don't spend much time with him, compared to say, John at the same age. But he's constantly being stimulated, so he's always learning. He figured out all fours a while back. Now he rocks back and forth, which I know from Joan's physio is an important milestone that strengthens the hips, in preparation for crawling and later walking - a milestone she missed out on, unfortunately. Then, he learned to sit with assistance! He needed to hold the floor, but he could do it for a few minutes at a time before toppling over. He even learned, through necessity, to break the fall with a hand, then walk himself down to all fours. He's a very fast learner! I think he only bonked his nose twice before figuring out how to walk himself down.

Now he's working on unassisted sitting. We start with his hands on the floor, then I give him a toy to brace himself on....then he lets go! He's so funny. He's doing it completely on purpose - he'll lift both hands in the air, then give me this big, smiling "look ma - no hands!" kind of look, then plop his hands back down. Every day, he gets a tiny bit stronger! Most recently, he learned to creep! I credit Dave with that innovation. We were in the playroom, doing our sitting practice. But he was bored with it, so he moved to all fours, and was practicing lifting up on his feet and hands. I ache just watching him do it. I don't know how he can stay like that so long. Dave came along, and started to give Tom toys to play with, so Tom would drop to his belly to play. Well, he's just a baby, so playing with a toy means shoving it into his mouth, which didn't sit well with Dave at all. He did NOT like watching all his favourite toys getting chewed up by Tom, so he'd whip it away, yell "No play Baby!", and toss it back to the pile. I'd ask Dave to find Tom a new toy, and the whole cycle would start again. Tom's not at that point yet when he'll complain, but you could tell he wanted a little more power over the situation, so he tried SO HARD to get his little body to the toys just out of his reach. He never sis manage to get a toy - but he did manage to move himself! Unfortunately, it was backwards, away from the toys. But he seemed so happy to get anywhere at all, it didn't seem to matter! Within a few minutes, he even taught himself to pivot, and that was obviously LOTS of fun! He did backwards spirals with a big smile his face! He even managed to spiral backwards into a toy! if he could remember that moment, I'm sure he'd remember it as one of the greatest moments ever! 

That was the first meanness I've ever seen from any of the kids towards Tom. Generally, they're really great with him. They especially love his tummy time, because he's at their level. Dave brings him things, and he and John show him things and teach him how to play with all the toys, even though he's too young to use most of them. Joan is his mini-mom. She's always eager to feed him, and is right there whenever he's getting bathed or dressed or changed. I'm sure they'll turn on him once he gets big and gets into their stuff. But until then, he's well protected.

Anyway, better go! Next up is Dave!