b e n j a m i n f a l k e n b e r g

Latest Updates: rolling over RSS

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  Z turns 3 (months, that is)!

  Stacey and Alex 1:00 am on December 24, 2007 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: age (20), eyes (3), laughing (8), rolling over, self-soothing, sleeping (19), thumbsucking (4), ticklish (2)

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  Zachary’s three-month birthday is today, December 24th. It’s hard to believe it’s already been three months!

  He’s looking and doing great! He is still looking older than he really is–probably around 6 months old in appearance due to his size. He’s not at all fat, he’s just… more developed. People can’t believe he’s as young as he is for the size he is…and of course given his headstart being so big at birth, it’s not really that surprising!

  He’s doing a lot more looking around, babbling, recognizing voices and faces, and in the last couple of days, he seems to have noticed that he has feet. Very cool. He’s such a mellow, easy-going baby… He found his thumb a couple of weeks ago now, so he self-soothes as necessary, and puts himself to sleep. He’s ticklish, and giggles. He can relax on his own for incredible lengths of time compared to his older brother at the same age. He can also roll over to his side already… and from the looks of things, it won’t be too much longer before he’s all the way over. Wow!

  Yes, pictures (and more…!) are coming!

   

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• 

  Transitions...

  Stacey and Alex 20:44 pm on August 17, 2006 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: crawling (11), playing (30), rolling over, sitting (13)

  So we’re sitting with Benjamin this evening playing, and he’s on his stomach, then on his back, flipping around, etc, having a great time.

  As we’ve mentioned recently, he’s been trying soooo hard to sit up from a hands-and-knees position… He’ll push back, shift to his side, and push himself most of the way up, but can’t quite get totally vertical and sitting upright altogether.  He knows he’s on to something, because you can see in his eyes that he knows this is what he’s suppose to do, and he’s trying with all his might to make it happen.

  Well, earlier tonight, he did it. Physical-therapist Mommy calls these types of moves ‘transition’ moves; prior to doing that, however, he did the opposite transition move, from sitting to crawling position. Not even five minutes later, he transitioned the other way, from the crawling position to sitting upright–totally–on his own both times.

  Who knows when he’ll do it again, but at this point, he’s done each move once, and we know he’ll be doing them again soon!

  Yes, we’re proud again. ;) Mom was particularly excited, probably because it’s one of those “transition” things she knows all about.

  The crawling thing is getting more interesting. He will actually raise himself up so he’s just on his hands and his feet, not on his knees at all, like he’s trying to stand up…testing his body to see what it can do. Growing and growing! It’s fascinating to watch him figure this stuff out.

   
• 

  Peekaboo!

  Stacey and Alex 13:00 pm on August 16, 2006 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: crawling (11), eating (16), food (13), laughing (8), playing (30), rolling over, scooting (2), sitting (13), solids (11)

  Looks like Benjamin has started to understand hiding-then-reappearing faces. Just this past weekend, he was laughing his head off… It was the first time we’ve noticed it, and we’ve been testing him off and on pretty regularly to see when he’d start doing it and playing along.

  Related to that, he’s also understanding that things continue to exist even though he can’t see them anymore. Very cool! He can uncover things on his own when we hide them.

  He’s still not quite crawling yet… Well, he’s crawling, but it’s very uncoordinated, so we’re not calling it “real crawling” yet. He’s trying really, really hard to figure out how to get from his side up into a sitting position on his own, now, too. He almost got it yesterday; you can really see the determination in his eyes, just before you see the frustration. ;)

  He has also figured out how to move great distances on his back by arching his back and pushing off with his feet.

  We’ve also moved on from carrots to green beans now. The palate continues to expand…

   
• 

  Rockin' and rollin'...a general update

  Stacey and Alex 20:13 pm on July 27, 2006 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: babyproofing (3), breastfeeding (9), cereal (9), crawling (11), laughing (8), playing (30), rolling over, scooting (2), sitting (13), sleeping (19), solids (11), talking (6), ticklish (2), toys (8)

  Benjamin’s getting to be more and more active. He’s also wanting to be more mobile than he’s currently capable of being, and it seems to be frustrating him a little bit. He’s rolling over back and forth like there’s no tomorrow, and he’s even kind of figured out how to mini-steamroll around the room, but only for a couple of flips before he stops… He can spin himself around pretty easily, either while on his back or his belly, and if you’re not paying close attention, he can move about ten feet across the floor and be in a totally different orientation, leaving you wondering how he even did it…

  He’s still not quite crawling, but he is up on all fours now pretty often (and more and more every day). He rocks back and forth now, and he’s been occasionally bunny-hopping his way across the floor in very short spurts. He’s got the idea of crawling down, we think, but he’s not quite coordinated enough to make it work; he gets on his stomach, realizes he can’t do what he wants to do, and eventually gets frustrated and needs some help.

  He sits up for an hour or longer at a time now, so we think he’s got that pretty well under control, unless he’s hungry or tired or bored, in which case he very readily falls back/over and cries for assistance or additional entertainment. Smart kid, heh. He’s getting so much better at entertaining himself for longer stretches of time, too, playing with different toys…and he’s quite the little talker when we’re playing with him, too! He is increasingly ticklish and loves to laugh–great sense of humor so far!

  Benjamin’s still on cereal twice a day (in addition to regular breast/bottled-breastmilk feedings), and that’s going really, really well. We’ll be introducing some vegetable baby food in a couple weeks or less, we think. He’s been sleeping really well all night long, too, which is fantastic… it’s so nice to have some quiet, alone time for Mom and Dad in the evenings. He’s up earlier in the morning now as a result, which has obliterated Dad’s morning 1.5 hours or so’s free work time…but Dad will get used to it.

  We started babyproofing the house recently, too. Fun! (ok, not really…) Outlet covers, some cabinet locks, etc. Crawling around on the floor trying to see things from his vantage point… We have some openings between rooms that aren’t the right size for standard baby gates, so we’re not sure what we’re going to do about that just yet, but we’re shopping around still hoping we’ll find some that will work. We finally got around to buying a new vacuum cleaner, too, so that’s taken care of now.

  We were also talking a couple days ago how he’s starting to look more like a little boy and less like a baby (cue Dad’s excuses about the lack-of-pictures situation here). We were also talking about how everyone has told us how quickly this time would fly by, and how we were prepared for it to go by quickly, but we’ve still been stunned at just how much more quickly it’s gone by than we ever could have imagined! We’ve probably said it a billion times in the last nearly-six months: amazing!

   
• 

  20.

  Stacey and Alex 21:48 pm on July 11, 2006 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: breastfeeding (9), cereal (9), crawling (11), fishing (3), height (7), pediatrician (15), playing (30), rolling over, sitting (13), sleeping (19), weight (8)

  Yesterday, Monday, July 10th, 2006, was Benjamin’s 20-weeks-old birthday.

  FIVE MONTHS. Crazy!

  Today, though, was his four-month followup visit with his pediatrician. A little late, due to some scheduling issues (doc’s taking Wednesdays off all summer, go figure), but not a big deal.

  Stats from his visit today:

  • Height: 26 1/4 inches
  • Weight: 16 lbs, 12 ounces
  • Head Circumference: 16 3/4 inches

  His doctor was quite satisfied with his progress and appearance. He’s right on track with most things, and a little ahead of the game in others. We’ve been given the green light for introducing rice cereal, too (just a little; we’re still breastfeeding)…but of course, we’re not ready (though we bought the cereal already a few weeks ago)!

  Ben’s really been quite a trooper these last several days. He is rolling over back and forth, front to back, back to front, etc etc, like nobody’s business. He’s not figured out that he can steamroll his way across a room yet, but we’re sure he will soon. He’s not quite crawling yet, either, but every day, literally, he gets a little more coordinated and a little more successful with his attempts. He’s sitting up for longer periods of time, too, when he’s not being lazy. ;)

  He got shots again today, too. The same three he got last time. He only cried once when he got stuck, for about 5 seconds, and that was it. He was all smiles after that, and it was like nothing happened. Amazing. Several hours later, and on into this evening, he seems to have a little bit of a fever and is doing some heavier sweating, but that’s typical….he’s on some baby Tylenol to keep him comfortable.

  His doctor was disappointed we haven’t put him on any Vitamin D supplement yet, despite our reassurances that he’s getting plenty of time in the sun. He also expects us to have been sleeping through the night by the time he’s 6 months or we’re supposed to start letting him cry it out so he figures out he’s supposed to be sleeping through the night. We’re supposed to start on cereal now and solids at six months… We’ve read -everywhere- that solids shouldn’t be started any earlier than 6 months (ideally sometime in the 6-8 month time frame, so 6 months is on the early end of the spectrum…), so we’re not in any hurry there, either. He says cereal doesn’t count as far as solids are concerned…we’re not quite sure that’s true…

  So basically, we’re trying to figure out–with all due respect, of course–just how correct he is about these things, what our options are, etc.

  Anyway…. just an update, again. Hard to believe he’s five months old already. Almost halfway through the infant phase of his life already. He’s a strong, healthy, handsome, darling baby, and a great kid so far. Everything we wanted in a child, and so much more.

   
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  Sitting up? Check!

  Stacey and Alex 16:16 pm on July 3, 2006 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: crawling (11), dancing (2), nap (7), playing (30), rolling over, sitting (13), sleeping (19), standing (7), walking (5)

  So he’s been sitting up for a minute or two or more, with increasing duration, for a couple weeks or so now…maybe three?

  Yesterday he was sitting on the lawn at a backyard party, for about 15 minutes. Unassisted.

  Today, he’s been sitting off and on, minding his own business–unassisted, again–for most of the afternoon!

  Sure, he still falls over once in a while, but he’s definitely able to catch himself and prevent falls (most of the time), and he’s got really great control overall.

  We’ve spent a fair amount of time with him practicing, and most importantly, we think, letting him crawl around on and around us in awkward positions, getting a feel for upside down, rightside up, trying to right himself no matter what angle he’s at or position he’s in, helping him with standing up, walking and dancing around, etc. We think it’s helped him get strong and develop better control.

  He’s also coming along very quickly now with the crawling… he’s not crawling anywhere yet, but he’s able to get his legs underneath himself, and he can reposition himself and spin around and kind of wobble around. Give him a week and he’ll be crawling, too!

  As for back-to-front flipping/rolling over, he’s basically got down what he needs to do to make it happen…it’s just a matter of putting it all together now; any day!

  Two naps today on his back, too. He’s getting better about that, but he still has to be pretty darn tired for it to happen successfully.

  Anyway, another Proud Parents Moment(tm)! :) It’s weird that these things seem to be happening so quickly; we’re still pretty thrilled from the initial rollovers a few days ago! Pretty soon he’ll be borrowing the car!