9 Months Old

In 3 short months, my little man will be a whole year old. Wow!

At 9 months old:

You are an angel baby; so calm and happy, the perfect addition to our family.

After being such a huge newborn, you are now much smaller than we expected, but still a healthy size at 19 lb 13.5 oz and 28.5 in...50% all around. You are also my only baby that has been solely breastfed without an ounce of formula in your life. The fact that you refuse a bottle of any kind probably plays into that a bit. During the day, you have 3 solid meals plus 2 snacks a day and are just starting table foods (bits of bread, pasta, meat, fruit, cheese). You really enjoy feeding yourself and even do pretty well out of your sippy cup.

You sleep fairly well, but have out-of-control allergies that can sometimes wreak havoc on your sleep. Most nights, I nurse you at least once, but then you are back to sleep right away.

You love bath time, most nights trying to squirm your way out of our arms and into the tub before we can get your diaper off. You have very little patience when it comes to bath time, screaming at us until you get your reward...SPLASHING!

You have two 'words' that you seem to say with some recognition: dada and 'awwww duh' (all done). You say awwww duh while wildly waving your hands back and forth (your sign for 'all done') to let us know to stop shoveling food in your mouth. You also sign more and wave bye.

You love to play "So Big", "Peek-a-Boo", and "Pat-a-cake". You love balls, cars and trucks, and even Emily's Minnie Mouse, which seems to be the perfect size for throwing. You throw her, watch her bounce, crawl to go get her, and repeat.

You pull up on everything - toys, tables, chairs, people, and even the dogs. You are getting very stable and I think you will be standing on your own very soon. You do a little cruising between toys, but for longer stretches, you still choose to crawl. Speaking of crawling, you still prefer the army crawl to hands and knees, although you can do both. Your big brother was the same way.

More and more, I see you resembling your big brother. Just the other day, I was walking down the hall and subconsciously thought a picture of Kason was you. Much like your brother, you are a real mama's boy. You hate for mommy to walk in a room and not immediately pick you up or walk out of room without you in her arms.

Emily and Kason continue to love on you constantly (a little too much, especially now that you are mobile). We try to tell them you need your hands, but just being near you is not enough. They love you so much, they need to be touching you/holding your hand constantly. We love to watch the 3 of you interact and are really enjoying seeing your personality take form as you find your way in this crazy house.

The days around here may be chaotic, but they sure are fun! We love you, NoNo!