Jason - 8 Months Old!

Jason: (5 1/2 Months Adjusted)

Weight: According to my scale, he weighs 8.2 kilograms, or 18 lbs (10-25th percentile). He is wearing size 9 months clothes. Jason is in Size 3 diapers (almost a size 4).

Length: 28.5 inches! That is in the 50-75th percentile for an 8 month old! He's a long little guy.

Feedings: Thank goodness the hunger strike seems to be over (knock on everything wood in your vicinity, please). Jason eats anywhere between 6 - 8 ounces of formula a feeding for a total of about 30 ounces a day. He also eats solids for breakfast and dinner. So far, he's had rice cereal, oatmeal, pears, carrots, green beans, squash, and bananas. (Pears and rice cereal are the taste winners for him.)

Favorites: Jason still loves jumping in his Jolly Jumper. His hands now offer hours of endless fascination, too. He still sucks on them, but now he enjoys just looking at them. :-) He still loves to fly over our heads like Superman. He also loves story time; the pictures completely enthrall him. (that's my boy!)

Least Favorites: Interestingly, our boy who enjoys his formula so much, is not a big fan of solids yet. I would say that he "tolerates" them. Carrots and green beans are definitely at the bottom of the list for him.

Personality: I think that Jason is going through a little jealousy at the moment. He gives me this look that tells me I am a traitor or something when I spend time with Shawn. I suppose I can understand that because while Shawn was sick, Jason got a lot of undivided attention. Now, he isn't liking the sharing that comes along with being a twin. For other people, he is still a big flirt and smiles easily. I am also seeing a stubborn streak starting in Jason--he definitely gets that from his father!

Areas to Work On: Jason's personal trainer (occupational therapist ***) says that he definitely needs to work on his upper body strength. That makes sense to me because he doesn't like tummy time still. His legs are super strong from all of the jumping he does, so we are good there. We have some exercises to work on to help him gain his upper body strength, so hopefully we'll see a difference in this area soon. (I had to come back to add that we are already noticing a difference in his upper body strength since we started working on it Monday. Whoo to the double hoo!) We are also still working on crawling (face dragging is what happens now) and sitting up.

New Things: Jason has two teeth now! Yeah! He is much happier now that they broke through. He can roll over to his tummy from his back now, too. His arm still gets stuck and that makes him very mad, but he can do it! (I have been trying to get a picture of his teeth for three days now, and he will have none of it. There is that stubborness!)

Randomness: I think that the constipation issues that have plagued Jason may finally be gone (again, knock on wood). I actually switched his formula from the super expensive, high calorie preemie formula he was on to a regular formula. And viola! Poop. I sort of suspected that the constipation stemmed from his formula, although I was worried about changing it. I'll have to keep an eye on his weight to make sure he continues to gain, or I'll have to change him back. (Hmm... I wonder if these little posts will be a source of embarrassment to my little man when he is bigger?!)

And in case you want to revisit his other posts, here they are: *Jason at 6 Months* *Jason at 7 Months*

***The boys qualify for early intervention due to their prematurity. Part of that includes access to occupational therapy and physical therapy right now.

****There is a story behind the rag on his head in the last picture. It started out innocently enough and just kind of went from there. I love this picture because his look says trouble with a capital T. The caption should be something like " You lookin' at me? Yeah, you. You want to start somethin'? Cause I am ready. Let go of me...Let me at 'em!")