Baby steps...well...step, twice?

Twice today I tricked Kaylee into taking a step on her own! Both times she got mad at me afterward, too, and turned her legs into jelly when I would try to get her to repeat it. This morning she was holding on to our coffee table and I held out one hand for her to grab and in the other had an empty water bottle that she likes to play with. My empty hand was just far enough away that she'd have to take a step to get to it, and she did! I think she realized what was going on as she was grabbing my hand because she had this weird "what the heck just happened?" expression. Then she got the water bottle and forgot until I tried to get her to do it again a minute later and she started the jelly legs thing. Pretty much same thing again this afternoon, but different location and different toy being offered.

In Need of a Feather

Kaylee and I went back to my favorite store last week (baby/kids consignment!) - I bought a pair of baby pants, tights, two hats, slippers, a toy piano and toy camera for $12. Wooo!! Here's Kaylee modeling one of her new hats. Super cute. It'll definitely fit the rest of this year and I'm hoping it still fits next fall/winter, too (it's very stretchy!).

A few weeks ago Kaylee figured out how to turn on the water in our master bathtub. As you can see here, Shadow was not too happy about it coming down right on him (though he does love playing in the water).

Her expression in this photo cracks me up...I would love to know what she's thinking sometimes!!! Maybe: "this water is freezing!!"


Out for a stroll last night, stylin' in her new hat.

Can't think of much to report right now. She knows so many words (not talking, but responds by pointing to/looking at/getting/doing what we were asking), it's amazing. And she picks things up so fast!! I bought that toy piano for her on Friday and by Saturday she knew when we said "piano" that's what we were talking about. I imagine it will be tough to get things past her soon enough, hah! (For now, at least, she still falls for peek-a-boo.)

Oh - yesterday she stood for over a minute! Don't think she realized it or she would have plopped down sooner...I was getting dressed, so I put turned on the TV and started a recorded show (she loves the theme song for "My Friends Tigger and Pooh"). She was standing, only holding on to one of my hands when it started. I let go and she stood there, correcting herself when she'd get off balance, and finally plopped down. I paused the recording and it had been running for a minute and 20 seconds - I was holding her hand for a few seconds up front, but she stood on her own for at least a minute! New record for her. So I guess that was something new to report. And every day she looks closer and closer to walking. She'll walk across the room as long as I have a hand under an elbow, barely supporting her, but she is hesitant to try it on her own. Once I let go she plops right down, even though I was barely doing anything. Anyone have Dumbo's feather we could borrow??

Bath time!

A few photos from bath time tonight...

All those toys and she just wants to chew on a number 1.

Bionic Baby...Recharged

Better photo of Kaylee's teeth - top and bottom middle two are all through the gums (yay!) and the two on either side on top are close.


We took Kaylee this morning for another ABR test (click here for more details on any given test) - see new bionic baby shots below. The audiologist also repeated the Tympanometry and OAE tests. The tympanograms again showed possible stiffness in both ears. The OAE is the test they gave Kaylee at the hospital that her left ear never passed - there or at any other appointment since - but today it PASSED!! The audiologist is mailing the full results to us (and to all of Kaylee's other 3 doctors!), but said that the ABR showed that her right ear does show good hearing, and her left ear has trouble with the lowest frequency (frequencies?). She said based on that and the left ear passing the OAE, she doesn't think that a hearing aid will be necessary, but of course we still need to be diligent in monitoring things. We take Kaylee back to the pediatric audiologist in another month for more behavioral testing and after that it's back to the ENT. Hopefully by the time her birthday rolls around we'll have a better picture of what's going on in those cute little ears!!

Tooth Update

Quick post - Kaylee's top right middle tooth broke through overnight, so both her top two and bottom two front teeth are in now. Yesterday she was grinding them...I hear most babies do that once they get top and bottom teeth in, but it doesn't last long. Maybe a week or so? So we're hoping to tough it out...was making our teeth hurt listening to it yesterday!!

Walking and Climbing

Kaylee loves her new walker, whether it's riding on it as a car or walking behind it. Thanks, Gramma and Grampa!! She stands up and pushes it all around the house, falls over and tries again.

The little monkey also has mastered climbing up the stairs. We figure it's better to let her practice while we're around than to always keep the gate closed and not ever let her learn.

More pics, including top teeth!

What?!?? Mama and Dada without Kaylee?? Yep, she was at home with Grandma while we went to my aunt Lynnie's surprise birthday party on Saturday night. That's the birthday gal and little Nate (almost 6 months!!) in the other two pics.

Margaret and Nate, after Nate's baptism on Sunday. Mags made that gorgeous cake!!

Kaylee, on the way home from Nate's party.

"Enough with the pictures, Mom!!"

Finally, a shot of her upper teeth coming in (I was pinching her cheeks to get this shot - she was not too happy about that!). The left one broke through yesterday, and I expect the right to follow suit any day now. The two on either side are also close.

More teeth

Quick post: Kaylee has her top 4 middle teeth coming in all at the same time! Looks like one of the middle ones is just about to break through, and the other 3 aren't far behind. I can't believe she hasn't been fussy about them at all, especially with 4 all at once!! How did we get such an easy-going baby??? (Hey, I'm not complaining, just wondering!)

9 (1/2) month checkup

Kaylee's 9 month well visit with her pediatrician was this afternoon. She's nearly 21 lbs (80th percentile) and 29.25" (91st percentile). She had a finger pricked to test her iron levels (very good, no supplements needed), and she only had one shot. Next appointment (1 year) she'll have more again. Not really anything to report from today, which is good! Her vision is fine based on the screening from last time (6 month visit).

We went to a pediatric audiologist for behavioral testing on Wednesday. I was going to try to explain what was done, but I'll refer back to the site I mentioned in a previous post as their description of the testing is likely better than what I would write!

Following text taken from
http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/eyes/hear.html:
Behavioral tests involve careful observation of a child's behavioral response to sounds like calibrated speech and pure tones. Pure tones are the distinct pitches (frequencies) of sounds. Sometimes other calibrated signals are used to obtain frequency information. The behavioral response might be an infant's eye movements, a head-turn by a toddler, placement of a game piece by a preschooler, or a hand-raise by a gradeschooler. (For Kaylee, it was turning her head to look at various moving toys.)

The test results went along with all the other tests thus far - possible hearing loss in left ear. We're going back to Northside Audiology (yes, she's seeing doctors/specialists at 3 practices...) in another couple weeks for another ABR (Kaylee had one done at 5 weeks old - see bionic baby post)

FYI (again, posted from
http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/eyes/hear.html)...
Auditory brainstem response (ABR) test:
An infant is sleeping or sedated for the ABR. An infant may be sleeping naturally or may have to be sedated for this test. Additionally, older, cooperative kids may be tested in a silent environment while they're visually occupied. Tiny earphones are placed in the ear canals. Usually, click-type sounds are introduced through the earphones, and electrodes measure the hearing nerve's response to the sounds. A computer averages these responses and displays waveforms. Because there are characteristic waveforms for normal hearing in portions of the speech range, a normal ABR can predict fairly well that a baby's hearing is normal in that part of the range. An abnormal ABR may be due to hearing loss, but it may also be due to some medical problems or measurement difficulties.

We have been told on numerous occasions from different doctors that Kaylee seems to have a smaller left ear canal than right. So this could also be a part of the problem - some of the testing equipment does not fit into her ear as well as it could/should. It is interesting that the results seem to show that her hearing is (very slowly) improving, so it could partially be that as she's getting bigger and her ear canal is growing, the equipment is better able to test that ear. Not that we are fooling ourselves into thinking she has perfect hearing and just has a small ear canal, but it could be causing more difficulties in getting completely accurate test results. Just relaying what we've been told.

We should have a better understanding after the ABR is repeated later this month. Hurry up and wait...hurry up and wait...

Finally, (some) Christmas Pictures

Some photos are courtesy of Grampa...

Kaylee by her Grampa and Gramma's tree, and with Uncle Jeff:

Aforementioned tree; Kaylee and Mama:

"You mean I can tear the paper and you won't stop me?!?" (FYI: the huge red bag was for trash and it was full by the time we were done!)

Kaylee enjoying her new walker (also her new car, as seen in the Speed Racer video). Apparently it's so easy she can use it with her eyes closed.

MMmmm...blocks...

Follow Every Rainbow

Obviously we have a climber. Yes, Gramma and Grampa, I know I was a climber...paybacks and such...

These are also from yesterday, but I forgot to post them. I already had the camera with me when Kaylee climbed onto the chair and looked out the window. I asked what she was doing and got the 2nd picture then caught her when she started slipping off the chair just after I took it.

Untitled

As you can see, Kaylee's face is just about back to pre-dog bite conditions. It never got any dark bruising, the darkest it got was probably like it was on the last photo posted here (a few posts ago). Other photo is today's lunch. She had bread, green beans, turkey and cheese. I'd heard not to give dairy until after a year, but recently I've read in a few places that cheese is a good finger food to start to try around 9 months. ??? Since Kaylee hasn't had any allergies to anything else (praise God - I'm not sure how she avoided it, what with all the allergies Jamie and I both had as babies), I figured I'd try a little to see how she does with it. She had maybe 1/3 of a slice of cheese yesterday and probably about the same today (gave her 1/2 slice on the tray today, but she didn't eat it all). No problems yet, but we're keeping an eye on things. She enjoys being able to feed herself! (Oh, and I think she would eat only bananas and bread if she had her way...she seems to like other things, but LOVES bananas, and the bread is usually the first thing to go when given a smorgasbord - as you can see there are a few pieces left in this photo and she started with a pretty good size pile.)

Kaylee's littlest second cousin

Hi all! My grandmother called to let us know that my cousin Jonathan and his wife Elisha and kids Caleb and Esther were en route to their place earlier this evening. They live in Maryland, so we don't see them often (but we do keep up via their blog!). Kaylee's Grandma Barb was already babysitting while we were at small group, so we stopped home to get the camera (Kaylee was in bed by then) and headed over to see them. Memaw was saying, "isn't she so big?" but she seemed small to me! Guess I'm used to Kaylee... :-)

Some photos:

Oh, no!

Bottom of the stairs baby gate is now in full swing. Or full lock-down? Kaylee's been pulling up on things, stairs included, but hadn't ever really tried to crawl up them before. Today, however, I was with her and she was standing at the stairs when I went to throw something away. As I walked back over, I thought, "wait a minute, you're not that tall!" Yep, she was standing on the bottom step. As I hustled over, she quickly scurried up two more steps! So the baby gate is now pretty much permanently on. We probably should install the top of stairs one soon, too, but we don't really let her on the loose when we're upstairs, so we've been procrastinating that one...

Speed Racer

Kaylee got a a little walker that turns into a car for Christmas from Gramma and Grampa Parker. She's used it both ways, but she really enjoys her little trips in the car! (Probably because Mama or Dada have to do all the work!)

Here's a photo of her face from earlier today. The bruising looks like it might be going away soon. I wish I had her super-fast healing powers! Darn this getting old stuff...

We went out for our first walk of the new year. It was a bit chilly, so we bundled up the babe. Even down to the mittens. She reminded me of Randy from A Christmas Story..."I can't put my arms down!" Kaylee was quite puffy in all her warm attire.

We hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Day! As for us...when Kaylee napped today, so did Mama and Dada, so it was a pretty nice lazy day. Happy 2009!

Happy New Year!

Late face update from (now yesterday) morning (12/31) - looking better, though a bit green/yellow now. The rate she's healing, though, I would guess she'll look like nothing happened by early next week.

Here she is in her new chair. She'll sit in it for a bit, but is easily distracted by her toys. She did think it was really funny when I put her in it in the store and when I put it in the trunk of the car and let her sit in it for a minute back there.

Kaylee has a crazy tile floor (and sometimes hardwood floor) "crawl" - she gets up on her hands and feet with as little bodily surface area touching the floor as possible...must be cold.

Happy New Year!! Kaylee slept through the whole ball drop thing, fireworks outside and all. (Yay!)