The Arbolog |

We had our 8 month check up today after a lovely lunch with Kale’s Auntie Andrea. This meant waking up Mr. Pants mid-nap, driving 25 minutes to wait in MY FAVORITE waiting room for 12 minutes simply to weigh baby and measure baby and then anticlimactically leave 8 (I shit you not) minutes later. Fortunately, the doctor is so pleased with Kale’s progress that we have been dismissed until 1 year, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Anyway, because I am just that much of a geek, I have been charting Kale’s growth – weight, length, and head circumference. 

From Kale 6 to 9 months

From Kale 6 to 9 months

One thing to note: that blank spot in the middle of his head circumference and length? He didn’t disappear, I just don’t have those numbers because we didn’t measure them.

Kale is apparently 61st percentile for length, 47th percentile for head circumference, and, I just discovered today, 4th percentile for weight. So when I call him Skinny Minnie, I am really not kidding. Our doctor assures me I should not worry, I should not worry one little bit, and says that his growth has been steady and regular and NON WORRYING. I must have had a bit of a concerned face when she noted this, because she was very quick to reassure me. Percentile Growth Charts are evil little things and are yet another tool that parents feel they must compare one another’s children to and I can’t say I like them. But whatever. 

Our doctor also gave me the green light to try some more adventurous foods with Kale, since he is doing so well with other things, and she also gave me some suggestions for introducing meats to him. Today he had tofu, already a favorite, but this time he had little teeny Cheerio sized pieces that he got to feed himself and apparently that was the cat’s pajamas. Also? A new favorite is egg yolk mixed with yogurt with a side of steamed zucchini. Kale is bored with mush and spits it out unless its an exciting new texture and flavour. So we are playing with texture and flavour. 

Oh, to have food be that exciting again. 

Bonus for you today: this cute shot of Kale and Ross at Waterbabies last weekend:

From Kale 6 to 9 months

Well, the hockey game didn’t go so well and we left after the first period. Kale had a bit of a meltdown – and what tipped the scales was those obnoxious BLAT trumpet horns that they sell. Some kid above us and another kid directly below us both had one and were freely using them. Those things irritate me on the best of days. 

Another kid, maybe 8 or so, a friend of the horn player, told Kale to “shut up” when he cried.

I told Kale if he was ever such an arrogant little arsehole I’d be sure to kick him in the pants. Little kids are rude, and most kids have zero manners and that’s simply unacceptable. 

We’re at a HOCKEY GAME where it’s LOUD and a CRYING BABY isn’t exactly DISTURBING anyone. We’re not at a library here. Yeah, a baby crying can be annoying. Trust me – I KNOW – oh MAN do I know. But seriously? Telling my baby to “shut up” when your stupid little friend is directly over my head going BLAT BLAT BLAT BLAT BLAT? I’m shaking my head here. Maybe I am giving an eight year old too much credit here, but simple manners should be directive freakin’ one for parents, as far as I am concerned. 

Anyway, so Kale won’t be going to anymore hockey games till next season. And that’s okay. We tried and it was, in my words, a COLOSSAL FAIL. Boo. Oh well. I’m disappointed but that’s okay. He’s only 8 months and there is a whole lot of hockey left in his life. 

Also, there is a whole lot of people with bad manners left in his life, too. 

We left so fast we didn’t even get a picture. 

Kale has a play date today with our friend Bonnie and her mom Shauna so today is a new leaf.

I’m scared to write about it because I’m worried that writing about it will make it stop. 

About three weeks ago, Kale randomly started leaving out his 10:30pm feeding. We’d put him to bed at his normal 7ish time and then we’d climb into bed at 10 or 10:30 with the expectation that ANY MINUTE NOW he’d cry out wanting to be fed and then all of a sudden we were waking up and it was 1AM. I didn’t think much of it but when it became the norm I silently congratulated ourselves all around on it just happening very casually, which is really what I was hoping for.

His napping has become fairly predictable – he wants a nap around 11 and another around 3 and he naps for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, most commonly an hour. I’m not too concerned with how long his naps are – if he wakes after only a half an hour, I do try and encourage him to go back to sleep but if it’s anything after 45 minutes then we get up and if he tells me he needs a bit of a cat nap a few hours later, that’s okay too. I don’t really care. We have a routine where he wakes up where we have some hugs and kisses and we open the curtains and blinds together and “look at the world” and I LOVE it when he smiles at what he sees. 

Last night, we put Kale to bed a bit late. He had had a rare 2 hour afternoon nap and so when I left for my pedicure he had his dinner and his bath and was still pretty agreeable and rather than worry about defrosting breastmilk and bottling him and blah blah, he sat up with Ross for a little bit later than normal. When I arrived home at 8, he was definitely sleepy but totally smiley and after a HUGE feeding and a giant burp he was asleep in like, thirty seconds. It’s becoming easier to put him to sleep and easier to transition him from loving arms to the crib. Yay on both counts. 

Kale doesn’t and has never woken up well – he cries out like he’s having a bad dream – and it’s pretty normal for him to have little outbursts a few times in the evening where we go in, replace his sucky, whisper “shhhh, shhhh” and he’s right back to sleep because he wasn’t really awake at all. Sometimes he can self soothe and sometimes if we let it go it will escalate, so he is learning but we aren’t there yet so when we hear a little cry we both stop and listen to see what happens before acting. Last night was no different than normal and I think Ross went in three times. I try and encourage Ross to do that so that Kale doesn’t smell breastmilk and trigger an actual awakening. 

We went to bed at our normal time and all of a sudden it was 5:30AM.

No kidding. 

He slept from 8:30 ish till 5:30 ish. 

Now, I realize this is probably a one-off and that it’s going to be some time before we can reliably say he is sleeping through the night and if he doesn’t for a long time to come I am OKAY with it. I am not going to try crying it out – I feel in my gut that Kale does not release tension by crying like I think some babies do, and I don’t think I am capable of handling that. It’s just not for us. BUT can I get a freakin’ HALLELUJAH here? WOW. SEVEN blissful hours of uninterrupted sleep. I had to pee sooooooo bad when I woke up it wasn’t funny and my breasts were a little achy. BUT MAN DO I FEEL ALERT TODAY. Holy cow.