Oops I Missed June!!!
WOW! Okay, I knew I was a little behind on this blog, but I had no idea it had been over a MONTH since I'd posted! I am very sorry to keep you all in the dark!
As many of you know, these past several weeks have been incredibly full and at times chaotic, but throughout it all Ethan has continued to grow and change, so I am finally here to let you all in on his latest milestones and accomplishments.
First of all, within 48hrs of Ethan getting his first tooth, his second tooth also arrived, right next to that one. Also, on July 4th Ethan officially had a third tooth. His third tooth is HIS top right in the very front. The tooth immediately to the left of it (his left) has looked ready to break through the gums ever since then, but it hasn't done so yet. We expect it any moment now- I could see it when he wakes up from his nap or it may hold off another week. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Secondly, during our trip to Massachusettes (May 21-28), Ethan began to routinely scoot. First he scooted across the hotel beds, then across the floors at home, and by the second half of June, he had risen up onto his knees and begun to officially crawl!!
Ethan is now a VERY proficient crawler and can get to anything in a moments notice. He also is very good about following me around the house, but sometimes gets frustrated when I (still moving faster than he can) go from room to room to room putting things away. He'll just stop in the middle of the area I walk through most often, sit on his bottom, and starts protesting. (He scrunches up his face and starts crying- at first sad, but then if I don't help him, he gets mad.)
Ethan is also now a VERY proficient cruiser! After his little bathtub cruise, I could not get him to cruise again for about another week. But as the weeks have passed, Ethan has continued to pull himself to standing and started cruising more and more often and with more and more daring- even at times standing still without support for a moment or two. He no longer shows even the tiniest hint of hesitation when changing from one piece of furniture to another. If he can reach one without letting go of the other, he'll go for it.
On July 5th, ETHAN TOOK HIS FIRST UNASSISTED STEP!!!! Luke and I were encouraging him to walk (apparently we're masochistic)one evening by having him stand with his back against one of us and then call him over to the other who sat just out of reach. We also used toys to entice him. Well, it took about 20min but at one point he was leaning against me, then gained his own balance, took one step completely unsupported, and just as he took another step, he grabbed Luke's hand. We were momentarily stunned. We had BOTH just witnessed his first step! Three feelings: elation- neither of us had missed it; horror- Ethan freely walking is just days away; remorse- neither of us had thought about turning the camera on! Oh well, there's always his second and third steps, right?
Wrong! Just as with the first time he cruised, I have yet to entice Ethan into doing it again. The one time I turned the camera on during one of these coaxing sessions, he refused to even stand up and thought we were playing a jumping game whenever I tried to stand him on his feet. Oh well.
Ethan also has his first pair of shoes. I know that the wearing of shoes at certain ages and stages is very controversial, however, I have made the decision to allow Ethan to wear his shoes whenever we are out of the house and he wishes to walk, cruise, or crawl. I have bought specific shoes with this in mind and am comfortable with my decision. While at home or anywhere on a soft, clean, surface of course, he goes shoeless.
The third thing you should know about is that on the last Wednesday in June, Ethan had his first swimming lesson. These lessons are to introduce Ethan to the water, teach him proper responses to specific situations, and to start him on some basic swimming techniques. For example, at the start of every class I set him on the edge of the pool where the teacher watches him while I come down the steps into the pool and go over to him. Then I lower him into the pool up to his chin and immediately turn him around to grab the side of the pool for a few seconds before moving us to the middle of the pool for the lesson. This helps to train him to go to the side of the pool every time he enters it, with the hope that if he fell in, his trained instincts would guide him to turn back around and try get to the edge. Of course, you may wonder how a baby maneuvers through the water at all without drowning. In addition to learning how to blow bubbles in the water, one of the other things he's learning is to hold his breathe whenever he has water poured on his face or goes under the water. We are also teaching him to kick and to float on both his tummy and his back. Eventually he should be able to "doggie paddle" his way back to the edge of the pool using both his arms and his legs where he will be able to grab on to the edge, and (when he's old and stong enough) pull himself out. Floating is, of course, something that can help him stay above water with little exerted energy while he's still too weak to lift himself over the edge of the pool without help. These are the goals of the class. He takes these classes once a week at the Noonan Family Swim School and I usually supplement his practice at our apartment swimming pool twice a week, unless he has a cold or other issues prevent us.
I want to emphasize that I do NOT believe that Ethan can be "drown-proofed" by these swim classes. This is simply something else that I can do to help keep him safe IN ADDITION TO constant viligiance around water and other proper safety measures. I have no delusions of being able to FLAWLESSLY keep my child in my vision at all times, although I certainly intend to do my best- no one is perfect 100% of the time. I liken it to putting locks on bathroom cabinets- a place which he would rarely have access to outside of my supervision.
Think of it this way: If he fell into a pool without these lessons he's likely to simply flail, swallow tons of water, and start to sink in the time it would take me to run aross the pool area and jump in after him. Hopefully with these lessons he'll have the skills and knowledge to keep his head above water (or at least hold his breath) long enough for me to get him out with little more damage than a good scare (especially on my part) and some wet clothes.
Now, it's pretty difficult for me to imagine him falling into the pool at the crawling stage because our pool is 4 floors down and gated, but I began looking into these lessons the same week he started to scoot because I want him to have as much of these skills as possible by the time he is really toddling. It does take time and patience to teach these things to babies, so waiting until the skills are immediately needed seemed silly to me and would add unneccessary pressure to the teaching/learning experience.
The other reasons I enrolled in a class (as opposed to teaching him myself)are for the immediate presense and vigilance of currently trained lifeguards, the reassurance of someone who's taught MANY children these same techniques, and the fun social interaction, inspiration, and encouragement Ethan and I could find in our classmates.
I hope that I have sufficiently explained the classes, our reason for taking them, and assuaged any concerns you may have regarding them. If you would like more information on the Noonan Family Swim School, please check out their website. (I will try to post a link to it on this blog soon.) Also, if you have any further questions/concerns for me and Ethan in specific, feel free to email me.
Well, that is all for now. Ethan has his 9mth well baby check up this afternoon and after that I hope to take him for Bday pictures! Today is his 9mth Bday! I'll let you know how it goes in my next post.
As many of you know, these past several weeks have been incredibly full and at times chaotic, but throughout it all Ethan has continued to grow and change, so I am finally here to let you all in on his latest milestones and accomplishments.
First of all, within 48hrs of Ethan getting his first tooth, his second tooth also arrived, right next to that one. Also, on July 4th Ethan officially had a third tooth. His third tooth is HIS top right in the very front. The tooth immediately to the left of it (his left) has looked ready to break through the gums ever since then, but it hasn't done so yet. We expect it any moment now- I could see it when he wakes up from his nap or it may hold off another week. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Secondly, during our trip to Massachusettes (May 21-28), Ethan began to routinely scoot. First he scooted across the hotel beds, then across the floors at home, and by the second half of June, he had risen up onto his knees and begun to officially crawl!!
Ethan is now a VERY proficient crawler and can get to anything in a moments notice. He also is very good about following me around the house, but sometimes gets frustrated when I (still moving faster than he can) go from room to room to room putting things away. He'll just stop in the middle of the area I walk through most often, sit on his bottom, and starts protesting. (He scrunches up his face and starts crying- at first sad, but then if I don't help him, he gets mad.)
Ethan is also now a VERY proficient cruiser! After his little bathtub cruise, I could not get him to cruise again for about another week. But as the weeks have passed, Ethan has continued to pull himself to standing and started cruising more and more often and with more and more daring- even at times standing still without support for a moment or two. He no longer shows even the tiniest hint of hesitation when changing from one piece of furniture to another. If he can reach one without letting go of the other, he'll go for it.
On July 5th, ETHAN TOOK HIS FIRST UNASSISTED STEP!!!! Luke and I were encouraging him to walk (apparently we're masochistic)one evening by having him stand with his back against one of us and then call him over to the other who sat just out of reach. We also used toys to entice him. Well, it took about 20min but at one point he was leaning against me, then gained his own balance, took one step completely unsupported, and just as he took another step, he grabbed Luke's hand. We were momentarily stunned. We had BOTH just witnessed his first step! Three feelings: elation- neither of us had missed it; horror- Ethan freely walking is just days away; remorse- neither of us had thought about turning the camera on! Oh well, there's always his second and third steps, right?
Wrong! Just as with the first time he cruised, I have yet to entice Ethan into doing it again. The one time I turned the camera on during one of these coaxing sessions, he refused to even stand up and thought we were playing a jumping game whenever I tried to stand him on his feet. Oh well.
Ethan also has his first pair of shoes. I know that the wearing of shoes at certain ages and stages is very controversial, however, I have made the decision to allow Ethan to wear his shoes whenever we are out of the house and he wishes to walk, cruise, or crawl. I have bought specific shoes with this in mind and am comfortable with my decision. While at home or anywhere on a soft, clean, surface of course, he goes shoeless.
The third thing you should know about is that on the last Wednesday in June, Ethan had his first swimming lesson. These lessons are to introduce Ethan to the water, teach him proper responses to specific situations, and to start him on some basic swimming techniques. For example, at the start of every class I set him on the edge of the pool where the teacher watches him while I come down the steps into the pool and go over to him. Then I lower him into the pool up to his chin and immediately turn him around to grab the side of the pool for a few seconds before moving us to the middle of the pool for the lesson. This helps to train him to go to the side of the pool every time he enters it, with the hope that if he fell in, his trained instincts would guide him to turn back around and try get to the edge. Of course, you may wonder how a baby maneuvers through the water at all without drowning. In addition to learning how to blow bubbles in the water, one of the other things he's learning is to hold his breathe whenever he has water poured on his face or goes under the water. We are also teaching him to kick and to float on both his tummy and his back. Eventually he should be able to "doggie paddle" his way back to the edge of the pool using both his arms and his legs where he will be able to grab on to the edge, and (when he's old and stong enough) pull himself out. Floating is, of course, something that can help him stay above water with little exerted energy while he's still too weak to lift himself over the edge of the pool without help. These are the goals of the class. He takes these classes once a week at the Noonan Family Swim School and I usually supplement his practice at our apartment swimming pool twice a week, unless he has a cold or other issues prevent us.
I want to emphasize that I do NOT believe that Ethan can be "drown-proofed" by these swim classes. This is simply something else that I can do to help keep him safe IN ADDITION TO constant viligiance around water and other proper safety measures. I have no delusions of being able to FLAWLESSLY keep my child in my vision at all times, although I certainly intend to do my best- no one is perfect 100% of the time. I liken it to putting locks on bathroom cabinets- a place which he would rarely have access to outside of my supervision.
Think of it this way: If he fell into a pool without these lessons he's likely to simply flail, swallow tons of water, and start to sink in the time it would take me to run aross the pool area and jump in after him. Hopefully with these lessons he'll have the skills and knowledge to keep his head above water (or at least hold his breath) long enough for me to get him out with little more damage than a good scare (especially on my part) and some wet clothes.
Now, it's pretty difficult for me to imagine him falling into the pool at the crawling stage because our pool is 4 floors down and gated, but I began looking into these lessons the same week he started to scoot because I want him to have as much of these skills as possible by the time he is really toddling. It does take time and patience to teach these things to babies, so waiting until the skills are immediately needed seemed silly to me and would add unneccessary pressure to the teaching/learning experience.
The other reasons I enrolled in a class (as opposed to teaching him myself)are for the immediate presense and vigilance of currently trained lifeguards, the reassurance of someone who's taught MANY children these same techniques, and the fun social interaction, inspiration, and encouragement Ethan and I could find in our classmates.
I hope that I have sufficiently explained the classes, our reason for taking them, and assuaged any concerns you may have regarding them. If you would like more information on the Noonan Family Swim School, please check out their website. (I will try to post a link to it on this blog soon.) Also, if you have any further questions/concerns for me and Ethan in specific, feel free to email me.
Well, that is all for now. Ethan has his 9mth well baby check up this afternoon and after that I hope to take him for Bday pictures! Today is his 9mth Bday! I'll let you know how it goes in my next post.
posted by KMD | 12:13 PM
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