Look at what I can do now....

Happy 8 Month Birthday!

It's impossible to keep Ryan stationary any more. He wanted to either crawl off the chair or pull the lamp down....

Helmets: No longer just for bikers

When Ryan was around 2 months old, we noticed he had developed a flat spot on the back right side of his head (plagiocephaly). The pediatrician said a mild case of torticollis made Ryan favor laying on the right side of his head. Since the diagnosis, we've stepped up our efforts to get Ryan crawling and we've been repositioning him to sleep on his left side. With no improvement by a age of 6 months, the pediatrician recommended we see a specialist treating plagiocephaly.

Here are some photos from our first visit with the Orthomerica lab about 2 weeks ago....





The two most abnormal measurements were:
1) As viewed from above, Ryan's diagonal length differential is 10mm. The nurse said that they recommend cranial remolding helmets for anyone above 5mm.
2) As viewed from above, Ryan's width to length ratio is 95%. 75-80% is normal and they recommend helmets for anyone above 90%.

From the scan of Ryan's head, they were able to make a foam mold. A technician adds plaster to the flat areas in order to make the head symmetric. Then a helmet is made using the modified foam mold...


Last Friday we finally got the helmet. Here's the orthopedist making some final adjustments....





We're now in a 5 day ramp up period, after which Ryan will need to wear the helmet 24 hours a day for the next 4 months. So far, Ryan has worn the helmet for four 1-hour sessions and he's handled it very well. No crying.

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the year of the tiger!
Ryan's great grandmother got him this outfit for Chinese New Year....

Ryan - 7.5 months

At 7.5 months old, Ryan's stats are:
20 lbs. 0 oz. (65th percentile)
29.75" long (98th percentile)
17.75" head circumference (64th percentile)

Ryan eats every 4 hours in the daytime and makes it through the night without feeding. It took about a month of trying, but Ryan is finally accepting foods besides breast milk. For 2 meals per day, we feed him about 1 oz of pears, apples, sweet potatoes, or rice cereal at the beginning of the meal, then finish him off with 6 - 6.5 ounces of breast milk.

Prune toes....

Out on a walk at Shoreline Park....

These two videos were taken last weekend. In the early evenings, Ryan is usually extra playful and giggly....



For over a month now, Ryan has been able to push himself into a true crawling position (supporting his upper body with hands, not elbows). But whenever he'd want to move, he'd drop down into a belly crawl. Finally last week, he started to do a real crawl. Now he does half belly crawl and half real crawl....

Sunset at UCSB

Since our time in California is soon coming to an end, we've been trying to take more photos of the area. We took these at the UCSB campus about two weeks ago....

Cross pattern crawling!!!

I realize you may be bored with all the crawling videos, but I think every little milestone counts (and should be memorialized). Ryan is starting to do a cross pattern crawl and climb up on things. I haven't been able to capture it on film, but Ryan is also pushing up from a crawling position to a sitting position.