Time for another update!
AJ now has 8 teeth! He has the same 4 across the top, 2 on the bottom, but recently added 2 molars on the top jaw.
He is walking, running and climbing so well that we are nearly ready to take down the safety gate at the stairs. I've been sitting with him on the way down for over a week now and he does very well. Several times he has gone about 4 stairs before I even noticed!
AJ's personality is just so different from the other two. Not to say that the older ones are a lot alike, but I am enjoying something I'm not used to. He is very lovable, clingy and huggy. He will go off to poop, then come and find me to give me a hug - essentially saying "here I am, don't I smell great?"
He is sharing a room with Will and that works most of the time. His crying definitely bothers Will a lot, and Will will come and get me if I don't come "soon enough." AJ has attached himself to a little fleece frog lovie and Daddy recently gave him a little brown bear. He doesn't NEED them to fall asleep, but he does prefer their presence!
AJ is getting the hang of our new church nursery. Several times in a row he cried and cried, finally calming down with one of their lime green receiving blankets - the same color as his frog. So I brought the frog the next week, but wouldn't you know it, he wanted that blanket instead! The last two weeks he is already doing better and recognizing the same workers. I think it helps to have Nina in the same room - she is never by herself anyway!
AJ is weighing approximately 21-22 pounds, depending on the day! He had a bout of the stomach flu in July that lasted 72 hours. 72 hours of throwing up nearly all the time; sometimes hours of vomiting every 10-15 minutes.
*In case someone else needs this trick, this helped us: we treated him with giving only 1 tsp of liquid every 15 minutes. If he kept it down then he got another. If he threw up, he got a little less the next time. If he could keep down 4 tsp in a row, the next liquid was 2 tsp. We alternated water & gatorade/pedialyte to help him stay hydrated and also replenish the electrolytes.
He lost several pounds those few days and was a bony 19 pounds at the end. I could see his ribs and spine on his back. It didn't take long for him to regain back over 20 pounds and see the fat and muscle return to his back. I think he was probably over 22 pounds when the flu started, about 21.5 pounds now. He has never been a chunky or fat baby, he has always been very muscular and lean. The way he runs and climbs it's no wonder!
