Graeme celebrated his first Thanksgiving this year! We decided to let him have some turkey and sweet potato casserole, and he LOVED it! Later he got to try some artichoke dressing, which he also enjoyed. We've started giving him more table food, and I think he's really been enjoying the opportunity to try new tastes and textures. He's even using those front teeth to bite into things. Speaking of teeth, we are still working on that 7th tooth. It seems like it must be getting close to breaking through, because he is biting everything and chewing on his hands/fingers.
Graeme also had his first orthopedist visit. We were getting worried about the curvature in his back, so we brought him in to have it checked out.
You can see in this photo how he has that little hump on his back when he sits. It's called kyphosis, and it is pretty common for babies with achondroplasia. In fact, about 90% of babies with achon develop some level of kyphosis. It usually corrects itself once they start walking, although some require bracing. Graeme's x-rays showed that he has 64 degrees of kyphosis. The orthopedist wasn't concerned yet, so we have our baseline level that we will compare in the future to determine if Graeme's kyphosis gets better or worsens over time. He also has mild scoliosis. Mild scoliosis ranges from 10-25 degrees of curvature; Graeme's is 18 degrees. The biggest thing to help with the curvature is to limit unsupported sitting. Therefore, we usually don't let Graeme sit for extended periods of time and try to make sure he has some back support as much as possible in order to try to keep him in a straighter position. This is also one reason babies with achondroplasia aren't supposed to sit in anything that doesn't have a hard back support; they easily curl their backs into a c-shaped position due to low muscle tone (hypotonia). We also try to have Graeme spend lots of time on his tummy since this flexes the spine in the opposite direction.
Of course, Graeme is not a big fan of limiting his sitting time. However, he's enjoying standing and walking while holding onto our hands, so we've been encouraging that. He's also figured out how to get himself from a sitting position to a crawling position without totally face-planting, so we're proud of him! 
He's trying to work out a way to get to a sitting or standing position on his own (we're not really sure which it is he's trying to do). It looks like this. He pushes his head against something as leverage, then works on getting his legs underneath of him. A lot of times, he does this against our leg in order to try to pull up. He also uses his teeth in order to get a grip...crazy kid. He's still not really pulling up much, but he's getting super good at cruising and walking/standing while holding our hands.
Look how good he is doing with his walker!! We are soo proud and excited of him for this!
Graeme has also started standing in a squatting position quite often. I'm not sure if he just finds it more comfortable, or if it's just something he's experimenting with, but he does it a lot now. And I have to admit, he looks really cute when he does it!
For clothes, Graeme is kind of in-between sizes. He started busting the buttons on his 6-month sleeper because his torso was getting too long for them. Of course, the legs on his 9-month sleepers are super long on him. He mostly fits in 6-9 month and 9-month onesies. For shorts and pants, he ranges from 3 months to 6 months depending on the brand.
He's doing good with table foods, although oftentimes he's lazy and doesn't want to feed himself. He also just doesn't like when foods feel slippery, sticky, etc. in his fingers. It's going to be interesting to see how he reacts to his first birthday cake! He's doing a great job with the sippy cup now...except for holding it himself. He tries to do it, but he can't get the cup high enough to actually get the milk out. When we try to help tip the cup up higher, he lets go. But on the bright side, he's only drinking from a bottle before bed and overnight.
Yes, he's still waking up for bottles overnight! However, he's been doing better. It's usually just once a night now, although the time at which he wakes during the night is erratic. He's almost always up at 5:30 AM. Sometimes he's up at 4:30 or 5, and we usually try to rock him and keep him asleep until at least 5:30. Most of the time, this means we can't get him back down in the crib because those eyes pop open the second you move (even if he seems to be in a deep sleep). The other day, he woke up at 4:20 and wanted to have a conversation with me. I figured I'd leave the room and let him babble, but as soon as I stepped away from the crib he started to cry. I turned back to him, and he started talking again. Silly boy. He's saying dada all the time now, but still no mama. I keep trying though!
Graeme was evaluated for FirstSteps, which is Louisiana's early intervention program. He scored really well, especially in the cognitive area and in fine motor skills. The fine motor skills score surprised me, since he still hasn't mastered the pincer grasp. His lowest score was in language, although the evaluator (who is a speech therapist), said she thinks she would have scored him higher after being around him longer. A lot of the scores are based on the parents' answers to questions, and sometimes we just aren't sure if he's doing certain things simply because we've never really tried them. However, we are still going to have his hearing evaluated. It's recommended to be done at 1 year anyway, because achon babies often have problems with fluid build-up in their ears. We've made an appointment with the audiologist for the end of the month. Graeme also just had his first ear infection 2 weeks ago, so we follow up with the pediatrician on that after Christmas.
So next up is all of those appointments, plus his 1-year checkup at the pediatrician and his 1-year visit to the geneticist, along with the fun stuff - Graeme's first Christmas and his first birthday (January 8)!! I can't believe he is almost one! I'm hoping the birthday party goes well, although he's still in a stranger anxiety phase so I don't know that he's going to like having a crowd at the house.
I'm going to try to take his Christmas pictures this weekend, since it looks like the coolest weather we will be getting for awhile (highs still in the 60s though). These near-80 degree days in December are awful. It's so hard to get in the Christmas spirit. I also still need to get his picture with Santa, which I'm sure will be a photo of him crying haha. But here's a cute picture of Graeme in his winter hat from one of the few cold days we've had so far :)
And just for a laugh, here's a video of him refusing to take no for an answer when it comes to playing with the dog bowls. You can also see his army crawl.
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