Noah is 13 months old today and he's survived his first month of daycare! Sadly, he had to stay home today because he's been having diarrhea for the past day or so and now has wicked diaper rash. :( Peter called me today and said that Noah had been crying non-stop for a while and was totally inconsolable. Rolling around on the floor crying. So sad! So I called the pediatrician's office and we were advised to use a blow-dryer to dry off Noah's diaper area, apply Monistat for a potential fungal infection, and put diaper ointment on top of that to protect the area from moisture. I even told Peter to give Noah some Tylenol, in the hopes that it might help in some way. Poor Noah. Fortunately he hasn't really had a tough time sleeping so at least he isn't also over-tired and cranky. I'm hoping that tomorrow morning when I wake up, a miracle will have occurred and everything will be all better.
In other news, Noah is getting quite good at walking now. I haven't taken any more videos since that first day a couple of weeks ago, but he can take many steps now, before eventually losing balance and falling down. So, still working on it, but definitely showing a lot of improvement. He still loves using his walker and turns just about anything that moves in a makeshift walker. We just installed a gate at the bottom of our stairs last weekend because he can now get to the stairs pretty quickly and quietly if he's walking, and before we know it, he's heading up the stairs! I think we just need one more gate to block off the entryway/kitchen. I can't believe he's walking! Sometimes when he's waddling across the room, I just stare in amazement.
Noah also really likes playing with his basketball hoop. The rim is about as high as he is tall, but as soon as he could just about balance himself on his feet, he was putting the basketball through the hoop. I guess sometimes these things are just innate? Hahaha. We'll see if this interest in putting balls through the hoop (and any other toy for that matter; I've had to untangle Sophie the Giraffe from the net on a few occasions) actually translates into playing basketball.
Noah is still a pretty good eater. He's become a bit more picky, but I think it's mostly an assertion of independence. I try to make half the food stuff he can pick up and feed himself, and half stuff that I feed him, since the stuff he can pick up himself and still be able to "chew" is pretty limited. That usually satisfies him. He threw a few peas the other day though; hopefully that was an isolated incident. It probably wasn't.
Noah is totally off breastmilk/nursing! When Noah was around 3 months old, I was just hoping I could survive until he was 4 months old, but when he hit the twelfth month, I had a really hard time letting go! Noah actually made the transition pretty easily. I was pretty unsuccessful during previous months in getting him to drink formula from a cup, but then all of a sudden in the twelfth month, he was sucking down the formula! I don't know if it's because he just decided he was ready, or if it was because I switched formula, but whatever it was, he switched pretty easily.
Now that Noah's first birthday has passed and it's September again, the changing weather is reminding me of when Noah was just a few weeks old and it makes me a little sad. I think back to the last time it was fall and how little he was, how surreal everything was, how we brought him on the plane for the first time... I guess this is how it's going to be for the rest of my life. I'm going to cry when Noah graduates. From kindergarten. And every other graduation after that. I can barely remember life before Noah. I think it was a lot more carefree. But all of this is so much better.
