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| Biggest and littlest brothers |
Thomas was born weighing an unremarkable 8 lbs 3 oz and 21" long (see here for a trip down memory lane) but has proven to be our biggest baby yet--by nine months old, consistently outweighing his siblings by about four pounds. At his last well-baby check at just shy of 25 pounds, he was in the 95th percentile for weight and 94th for height, so I will update this post when I have the new numbers from his one-year well-check! [Update: Thomas had his one-year well-baby check. He weighs 26 lbs 6 oz (97th percentile) and is 31.5 inches tall (94th percentile). No surprises there!]
Thomas had a tongue tie at birth and, like his brother Joseph, couldn't transfer milk, so I exclusively pumped and bottle-fed for weeks. Thomas couldn't take over nursing till nine weeks old (and I was able to wean off pumping about a month after that), so our beginning time together was quite rocky and disruptive to the family. (Read here for the full journey of Thomas being exclusively bottle fed to exclusively nursing.)
Now, a year later, Thomas remains a champion nursing baby, getting a big amount of his calories from Mama, and he can eat solids splendidly! He has eight teeth and currently enjoys just about all the table foods I give him: various meats diced small, fruit, some vegetables, crackers, shredded cheese, and so forth.
Thomas loves his siblings and being part of the gang. At this age and mobility, he toddles after them all day long.
Thomas began walking at 10 months--just like his four siblings! Such interesting consistency in one family. He is now a steady walker who prefers walking to crawling, and who doesn't cruise on furniture even if he is walking by it. He can squat up and down, turn on a dime, and is starting to walk fast (like a baby 'run'). As seen in the below video, he doesn't mind walking far away from me!
Because gates don't work well with our stairs, the layout of our house, and having a large family, our babies tend to learn the stairs really early. By 11 months, Thomas can navigate up and down the stairs just fine, although I still shadow him (unless he sneaks by me) just for safety's sake. One day I was in the school room working with just the baby toddling around. Suddenly, I noticed it was way too quiet, even for one baby, so I looked up and he was gone. He had pried the baby gate away (the only one we have in the house), crawled all the way downstairs carrying a tub of Play-dough, and had climbed half way back up the stairs to me when I ran to rescue him.
Master Thomas' typical cosleeping baby bad habits have been more and more problematic, now that we are a larger family and I have more duties that don't involve, say, two-and-a-half cumulative hours each day attempting to get an exhausted baby to be willing to fall asleep. So, this last week, Thomas went through a bit of a Baby Sleeping Boot Camp, and can now fall asleep by himself in two to five minutes. I hope we will all be a lot happier and Thomas will be more rested. (Still cosleeping, just being able to fall asleep when it is time to sleep and by himself--yay!)
Thomas is so interactive at this age. He plays baby games with people, such as peek-a-boo, chase and runaway, or little 'baby jokes,' causing peals of laughter.
He has begun bringing me board books to read to him! I've begun reading to him at nap and bedtime, instead of just nursing him, and he taps every page, pointing out pictures to me.
Thomas is doing early babbling, in which he makes so many various sounds and it sounds almost like he is talking. I love listening to it. (He's not yet doing that older toddler habit of babbling, with expectant pauses in between while he waits for the other speaker to have his turn.)
In other communication skills, Thomas now screams and throws tantrums just like a Toddler. If he doesn't get what he wants, he sits down hard, throws himself down on his back (often pausing slightly to check behind him for anything in his way), then kicks and screams. He concludes his display by flipping over on his tummy, curling up in a ball, and getting quiet . . . before he peeks around to see if I am watching.
In summary, Thomas is one precious gift to our family. The children all fight over who gets to retrieve him from nap time first, or babysit him this time, or hold him the most.
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| Walk softly, carry a big stick. |
Thomas had a tongue tie at birth and, like his brother Joseph, couldn't transfer milk, so I exclusively pumped and bottle-fed for weeks. Thomas couldn't take over nursing till nine weeks old (and I was able to wean off pumping about a month after that), so our beginning time together was quite rocky and disruptive to the family. (Read here for the full journey of Thomas being exclusively bottle fed to exclusively nursing.)
Now, a year later, Thomas remains a champion nursing baby, getting a big amount of his calories from Mama, and he can eat solids splendidly! He has eight teeth and currently enjoys just about all the table foods I give him: various meats diced small, fruit, some vegetables, crackers, shredded cheese, and so forth.
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| Enjoying a muffin |
Thomas loves his siblings and being part of the gang. At this age and mobility, he toddles after them all day long.
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| Ready to co-opt Joseph's 'motorcycle' |
Thomas began walking at 10 months--just like his four siblings! Such interesting consistency in one family. He is now a steady walker who prefers walking to crawling, and who doesn't cruise on furniture even if he is walking by it. He can squat up and down, turn on a dime, and is starting to walk fast (like a baby 'run'). As seen in the below video, he doesn't mind walking far away from me!
Thomas walking in the hallway after Mass
Because gates don't work well with our stairs, the layout of our house, and having a large family, our babies tend to learn the stairs really early. By 11 months, Thomas can navigate up and down the stairs just fine, although I still shadow him (unless he sneaks by me) just for safety's sake. One day I was in the school room working with just the baby toddling around. Suddenly, I noticed it was way too quiet, even for one baby, so I looked up and he was gone. He had pried the baby gate away (the only one we have in the house), crawled all the way downstairs carrying a tub of Play-dough, and had climbed half way back up the stairs to me when I ran to rescue him.
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| Creeping up ahead of me |
Master Thomas' typical cosleeping baby bad habits have been more and more problematic, now that we are a larger family and I have more duties that don't involve, say, two-and-a-half cumulative hours each day attempting to get an exhausted baby to be willing to fall asleep. So, this last week, Thomas went through a bit of a Baby Sleeping Boot Camp, and can now fall asleep by himself in two to five minutes. I hope we will all be a lot happier and Thomas will be more rested. (Still cosleeping, just being able to fall asleep when it is time to sleep and by himself--yay!)
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| Sleeping in his high chair after Mama had tried three times to get him to sleep in his bed |
Thomas is so interactive at this age. He plays baby games with people, such as peek-a-boo, chase and runaway, or little 'baby jokes,' causing peals of laughter.
Thomas playing Peek-a-Boo with Joseph
Thomas gets into mischief, such as unfurling the entire toilet paper roll.
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| I have a gift for you, Mama! |
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| Look, it's all the toilet paper! |
He has begun bringing me board books to read to him! I've begun reading to him at nap and bedtime, instead of just nursing him, and he taps every page, pointing out pictures to me.
Thomas is doing early babbling, in which he makes so many various sounds and it sounds almost like he is talking. I love listening to it. (He's not yet doing that older toddler habit of babbling, with expectant pauses in between while he waits for the other speaker to have his turn.)
In other communication skills, Thomas now screams and throws tantrums just like a Toddler. If he doesn't get what he wants, he sits down hard, throws himself down on his back (often pausing slightly to check behind him for anything in his way), then kicks and screams. He concludes his display by flipping over on his tummy, curling up in a ball, and getting quiet . . . before he peeks around to see if I am watching.
In summary, Thomas is one precious gift to our family. The children all fight over who gets to retrieve him from nap time first, or babysit him this time, or hold him the most.
Happy first birthday, Thomas!
Feb. 2 is a special date in our household. Not only is it my wife's birthday, but in the Traditional Liturgical Calendar it is also the 
