October 2, 2012

We took Ben to an Italian pediatrician on June 22.  Someone at work gave us her name because she speaks pretty good English.  We wanted to meet her while Ben was healthy, so we would be prepared for a time when we needed a doctor.  She turned out to be very nice, and we could communicate without much problem.  The visit was basically the same as a visit in the US.  He weighed 10,7 kilograms, and was 74 cm long.  (23 pounds and 29.1 inches).

Then we took him in the US on August 13 and he was 24 pounds and 32.75 inches.  I didn’t really think much of it, but later I did the math and realized that he had grown 3.5 inches in under 2 months!  No wonder he grew out of his 18 month clothes so fast!!  And when he first pulled up in the kitchen in mid-July, he was standing under the table.  When we got back from the US at the end of August, he was about 2 inches taller than the table!

At the park in late August.

Ben is eating more and more real food, and he is starting to get the hang of using a spoon.  We still make almost all of his food, although now he can often eat what we eat.  (That sometimes gets tricky because we, like the Italians, eat at 9pm, after Ben is in bed.)  We still steam him a ton of vegetables, but now we just cut them up instead of pureeing.  But we still make batches and keep them in the freezer.  I do feel like I have no free time ever (don’t all working moms feel that way?), but making his food really isn’t very time consuming, and I love it!  A new favorite is eggplant.

Ben's last bottle.  He brought one home from daycare that he was still working on, on the last day before we went to the US.  I figured that would be a good break, and when he got back to Italy he would have forgotten about bottles altogether.  I think my plan worked!

I took another trip to IKEA in September, and got Ben some blocks and a little table/chair set.

Helping Daddy put together the table.

 Figuring out these blocks.  He has a set of stacking rings where you put the rings over the pole in the center.  He never does those rings, but he put this circle over this white piece in no time at all, and it's a much tighter fit.

Ben is also getting more teeth.  About a month before we went to the US in August, I had a dream that he got another tooth, on the bottom to the right of the two he already has.  I also had a feeling he would get a tooth in the US.  When we got to the US, he still only had two teeth, but then we started seeing the top ones trying to come through.  I thought my dream would be wrong.  On our second to last day, we happened to look in his mouth, and another tooth had already cut through!  It was the one I had dreamt about.  One top tooth finally cut through the day we arrived back in Italy, and the second cut through four days later.  He went from 2 to 5 teeth in a week!  All while fighting jet lag, poor kid.  Less than two weeks later, another tooth cut through on top.  It was way out to the side, probably a molar.  Within two weeks after that (by late September), he was up to 9 teeth.  Still three on bottom, and on top there are four in the middle, and both first molars are peeking out.

 Ben's first five teeth, and spaghetti.

 Ben finally crawled!  He does it every once-in-awhile now.  He still prefers the butt scoot, I think it’s because he is more upright, and he can easily pause to inspect the marks on the floor, and he can carry toys.  He can even carry a toy in each hand, and scoot without using any hands.  He is really good at walking while holding on to things.  If you hold both of his hands, he walks in a normal, steady motion, and can pretty much run, if you can keep up.  If you hold one of his hands, he is slightly unsteady, but can still walk pretty well.  But, he still refuses to stand by himself.  Every time we try, he purposely leans on our hands, or if we let go of his hands, he immediately sits down.  He can stand next to a table and let go to pick up toys with both hands, as long as his stomach is leaning on the table.  We keep practicing every day, but not so much that we stress him out.  He will do it eventually, and then he will be into everything.