Morgan Dahl

Cute things she’s started doing

She’ll look under her crib in the morning for pacifiers that may have fallen there during the night.  And she’s pretty good about retrieving them too.

She’ll also lift the bedskirts and look under the bed at whatever we’ve got stored under there.

We’re having a blast.

10 Months Old

Morgan was 10 months old yesterday.  Our trusty book has an 8-12 month chapter, so the ‘milestones’ listed here are supposed to be achieved by the end of the 12th month (late June).  Nonetheless, I thought I’d list them, noting the things she’s doing.

Somewhat unrelated, now that Morgan’s illness had abated, her appetite returned with a vengenence.  She’ll eat almost a whole banana, as well as some bread, cheerios, and yogurt bites for breakfast.

Movement Milestones

• Gets to sitting position without assistance (yes, for awhile now)
• Crawls forward on belly by pulling with arms and pushing with legs (again, yes, for awhile now)
• Assumes hands-and-knees position (yes)
• Creeps on hands-and-knees, supporting trunk (yes)
• Gets from sitting to crawling or prone position (yes)
• Pulls self up to stand (yes)
• Walks holding on to furniture (yes.  This is actually still developing/fairly recent.  It has only been in the last week or so that she has started moving while holding on to furniture.  Prior to this she would sit down, crawl a little ways, and pull back up).
• Stands momentarily without support (no)
• May walk two or three steps without support (no)

Hand and Finger Skills

• Uses pincer grasp (yes)
• Bangs two cubes together (yes)
• Puts objects into container (yes.  She loves to do this with her new push wagon.)
• Takes objects out of container (yes.  See push wagon comment above)
• Lets objects go voluntarily (yes.  In particular, she likes to remove food from her tray when she doesn’t want it anymore.)
• Pokes with index finger (yes).
• Tries to imitate scribbling (no.)

Language

• Pays increasing attention to speech (yes, she gets pretty intense at times)
• Responds to simple verbal requests (Maybe.  She appears to occasionally come when called, but that may be coincidence.)
• Responds to ‘no.’ (no.)
• Uses simple gestures, such as shaking head for no.  (no.)
• Babbles with inflection. (yes.  It is pretty endearing).
• Says dada and mama.  (She seems to still be putting these together, but I think she’s getting it.  I predict dada will come first.)
• Uses exclamations such as ‘oh-oh!’ (no.)
• Tries to imitate words (no.)

Cognitive Milestones

• Exploring objects in many different ways (shaking, banging, throwing, dropping) (yes)
• Finds hidden objects easily (yes)
• Looks at correct picture when the object is named (no)
• imitates gestures (yes, with waving)
• Begins to use objects correctly (drinking from a cup – yes; brushing hair, dialing phone, listening to receiver – no)

Social/Emotional

• Shy or anxious with strangers (not really)
• Cries when mother or father leaves (not really)
• Enjoys imitating people in play (yes)
• Shows specific preferences for certain people and toys (definitely)
• Tests parental responses to actions during feeding (I don’t think so)
• Tests parental responses to behavior (what do you do if she cries after you leave the room?) (yes)
• may be fearful in some situations (no)
• Prefers mother and/or regular caregiver over all other (no)
• Repeats sound or gestures for attention (yes)
• Finger-feeds herself (yes)
• Extends arm or leg to help when being dressed (yes)

Playground part deux (video)

Like I said, she liked the swing…

Trip to playground

A sunny Spring morning was the perfect setting for Morgan’s first trip to the  neighborhood playground.

She loved the swing, less so the slide.

“Pick me up” and picking her up at daycare today

Morgan has been doing the ‘pick me up’ move with her arms for about a week too.  (Arms extended over head.) So cute.   Even cuter now that she’s feeling better and so isn’t upset every time she does it.

I picked her up from daycare at the end of the day today.  It seems like it has been ages since I did that.  And, she was thrilled to see me, happy, smiley, all those great things.  What a relief.

Annabel said she shares well with people she knows/trusts at daycare.  Apparently she’ll hand toys she’s playing with to other kids and workers she’s familiar with.

Gestures — clapping

Though she’s been able to wave longer, we haven’t been able to catch it on video.  She did just learn to clap this weekend, which she’s (at least temporarily) doing in place of all other hand gestures.

Meager photos

It hasn’t been the best month for photos, but with this weekend’s recovery here are a set of Morgan playing with a new wagon she got for Christmas (but which she was just allowed to begin playing with this weekend) and happily eating again.

What a couple of weeks (month?)

Morgan was first diagnosed with an ear infection on March 25th (24 days ago). The prescription was for 10 days and we were instructed to finish the medication.  The pharmacy apparently gave us quite a bit ‘extra,’ so we were still giving it to her on Monday April 6 (the 10 days were up the previous Friday).  She still wasn’t her usual self, so we went back to the doctor that Monday and she was given a stronger prescription, Augmentin.  We just finished that course of antibiotics this past Wednesday, April 15.  Either those antibiotics were giving her digestive system a real run for the money or she contracted a stomach virus while on them.  (Probably the latter, as Jim is also sick).  When we thought the symptoms were side effects from the antibiotics we were still sending Morgan to daycare.  After a particularly overwhelming blowout, she was sent home yesterday and I took her to the doctor.  He said that it could still be the antibiotics and there really is no way to distinguish the two.  Anway, she was home again today.   She seemed to be doing better today than yesterday.  Fingers crossed for Monday.

She really hasn’t been eating well this whole time, which is unfortunate.  This was right when we were trying to tackle the anemia diagnosis and move her toward eating what we eat.  Instead, we’re struggling to get her to eat small amounts of super-bland food.

Visitors / photos

Uncle John and friends Kirk and Tracy were visiting this weekend (last Wednesday to today). During that time Morgan really transformed back into her old self, so hopefully she’s out of the woods on this illness.

She played on the grass a bit, sat happily out at restaurants numerous times, and took her first trip to a museum.

Here are some photos.

Refusing to eat

Since Morgan started these new antibiotics (last Monday), getting her to eat any solid foods has been a real struggle.  We’ve gotten her eating a couple of times, but nothing too serious.  This morning she seems to have discovered Cheerios and was eating those quite happily for quite some time.  We were pleased.

We finish the antibiotics on Wednesday.  Hopefully her appetite will return then.