9 Months

Will turned 9 months old yesterday. He's officially been on the outside longer than he was on the inside. He is basically an adult now.

Can I just tell you that taking photos of a 9-month-old is extremely difficult. He was so preoccupied with putting the camera in his mouth. I think I took almost 200 photos, and most of them looked like this:

"Just ONE bite of the camera, Mom. PLEEEASE."

Oh, I wish that were an exaggeration. 

But it ain't.

Obviously I took all these pictures yesterday. Two blogs, one stone.

Let's do this.

EATS

// He gets VERY excited when he's hungry and hears the word "milkies." There have been a couple times he actually crawled into my lap and started hitting me in the chest. Message received, kid. 

// He is way less distracted when he nurses. I was really worried we'd have to switch to bottles-only because he is such a busy-body. It was just a phase, albeit a 5-month-long "phase." We haven't had the need to give him formula in weeks.

// I'm proud to say, he eats like his parents. This morning he nursed, had an adult-sized portion of oatmeal, and half a banana. No kidding, he ate more than I did. He usually eats three solid meals a day along with clean snacks of cereal or something like peas. He eats whatever we eat for the most part. 

// Still just the two bottom teeth. I wouldn't say his top four teeth are about to "pop," it's more like they are slowly, painfully, oozing out of his skull, but they are close to emerging.

SLEEPS

// One wakeup per night to nurse, usually. He had a few days in a row last week where it was two and I about went crazzzyyyy. When you get used to less wakeups, it makes it so much harder to adjust to more frequent ones. Boohoo, I know. 

// He is down to two naps per day. Occasionally three. Nap times are inconsistent. Anywhere from 30 minutes to 2+ hours. 

POOPS

// Man. He is pooping solids all throughout the day. It kind of stinks. Heh. He poops himself awake in the mornings about 40% of the time. 

// We are back to cloth diapering! We use a fitted underneath an all-in-one at night. It's way better than disposables (we've tried every brand) at night. So far we only have one, so it's only used every third night, but I'm about to buy one or two more because it's so great.

// Diaper changes are a full-contact sport. I have to ask him to hold something for me . . . . usually my phone or whatever's around. Then it's a struggle to pin him down and keep him from squirming away.

// That said, when I have to use the bathroom, it's also a struggle as one of his current life goals is to climb into the toilet. 

#determination

MILESTONES

// Stands unassisted for 30+ seconds. The more distracted he is by holding something (see above), the longer he will stand there.

// Claps! But only when he feels like it. 

// His language skills consist of "bababas and lalalas." 

// He will repeat high-pitched screaming. "AH!" is his favorite. So advanced.

// Prodigiously bangs on his xylophone, which immediately makes the dogs howl. And then he kind of gets scared.

// If you ask for a kiss, he will sometimes open his mouth very wide and lunge toward your face for a wet one. 

// He happily occupies himself for the most part. As long as he's barricaded into a baby-proofed room, he requires very little parental involvement. Yes, I will fist bump to that.

// The rat tail is looking more like a curly mullet. YES.

You know where all the other rat tail updates are.