It worked…. I picked up the live stitches and added a couple on the sides and then bound off the hood with the three needle bind off. Only the sides needed to be seamed, which is great because I positively hate seaming. Will get some buttons tomorrow and then off to my nephew it goes. I have to agree with other knitters that sizing is going rather small,… my nephew is wearing a size 6m and he is only two months old… and it fits him like a glove… no way it will last till he is 6m himself ;)

I am knitting the smaller size with some mods.. I am not binding off for shoulders and back.. stitches on hold.
The same for the neck in both fronts.
For shoulders, I am using the 3-needle bind off which worked fine. I am planning on knitting the hood directly from the live stitches in both fronts and back + picked stitches on the sides of the neck. so far, so good.