Second Son at Nine Months

Second Son turned nine months old on Holy Saturday. First thing in the morning I set him on the couch with his giraffe for some pictures.

He's been sleeping tremendously well, from 8 pm at night to about 7 am in the morning four times last week. He also just started taking naps on a bit of a regular schedule. He often sleeps for about half an hour in the morning, starting at 11 am. Then he'll take a longer nap in the afternoon, maybe an hour from 3 to 4. I'll take that. He likes to be in his crib, though. As soon as I lay him down, he flips over to his tummy. If we're out and about he seems to be too interested in the world to take a nap. Sometimes he'll fall asleep in the car on the way home.

He has no teeth, but we think we see one on the bottom left (his left, our right) just under the surface. I expect it'll be coming out this week or soon thereafter.

This one is kind of dark but I love how his whole hand is crammed in his mouth.

He doesn't have any trouble eating, despite the lack of teeth. He scoops and crams Cheerios and crackers into his mouth. He doesn't do as well with fruit, but it tends to be slippery. He still likes his food pureed for maximum efficiency, but will sometimes each chopped blueberries or green beans and has recently decided cottage cheese is acceptable. He eats just about everything we feed him now, but he's not a huge fan of egg yolks. He had his first ham on Easter Sunday and seemed to like it.

He had his nine month well child visit today. He weighed almost 20.5 pounds (50th percentile) and is 29.25 inches tall (80th percentile). His nurse said he's a healthy boy, not that I needed her to tell me that.

Hamming for the camera

He isn't crawling yet, but he rolls quite easily every which way. He also scoots around the room on his belly. I don't think it's intentional exactly. He lunges for something that interests him and somehow finds himself closer to it. A few days ago, I took a book away from him and put it back on the shelf. He launched himself about a foot to grab it again. He has a tendency to destroy anything made of paper: books, newspapers, art projects, photo albums.

This place is great!

He pulled himself up in his crib three times on Saturday. He was startled at his own strength the first time, then he just laughed and laughed. (I had my back turned as I was hanging clothes in the closet when Second Daughter announced, "He's standing!" She was right!)

Oh, some day I'm going to grab that camera and eat it!

Kansas Dad said he very nearly crawled on Easter Sunday (while I was taking a nap). He was up on his hands and knees and rocking. It's only a matter of time now, and probably a very short amount of time. I'm afraid life is going to get a lot more complicated until the kids are more reliable at keeping their smaller toys away from him. You know, in two years or so.

He loves his big sisters and big brother. They can often make him laugh when nothing else will. Even Second Daughter has realized she can jump right into his face and yell "Peek-a-boo!" and he'll laugh hysterically. First Daughter is often a bit too affectionate for his taste, so he'll start to cry. Perhaps that will abate when he can crawl away from her. First Son, though not as interested in entertaining Second Son as the girls are, is probably Second Son's favorite person (after me and Kansas Dad). He'll often laugh for First Son when the others have failed.

He just started reaching for me (or Kansas Dad) if someone else holds him for a few minutes.

I'm so much more productive than I was even a month ago! Second Son will often explore on his own while I clean the kitchen or put in a load of laundry without crying. Most of the time.

He loves to pound on the piano keys. If you build a tower of blocks, he'll knock it down, but what I really love is how he insists on pulling the blocks out of their wagon if you try to put them away. He laughs, but he also takes it seriously. Get nine or ten blocks put away and he'll start reaching for them and tossing them out.

That's all for now.