I know I've been a little behind in updating the blog but I really hope to make it up in the next couple of days. I have been taking his monthly pictures though and intend to post as many pics as I can. Anyway, on to the update.
A lot has happened in these past couple of months. Our little baby is turning into a little boy! He seems to have suddenly grown so much in these past few weeks. I think the best way to recap all that has gone on and he's accomplished is to break it up...
Here are his stats real quick. At his 9 month well-baby appointment (which was actually 5 days past his 9 month birthday) he weighed in at 17lbs 6oz and 27.25 inches. Still a small little guy but still mighty cute.
First, here is his 8 month picture:
And a series of his 9 month picture:
As you can see, he can't sit still anymore. He is always on the move, or at least
trying to move. He doesn't crawl yet but is trying. He can get on all fours and rocks back and forth. And then he either lunges towards something (usually we try to put one of his toys just out of reach so that he'll have to work to move to get it) or he'll just fall onto his belly and roll over. He's really close now and I can tell that one day, he'll just figure out to do it and amaze is.
One thing he is really good at is standing! The boy has always wanted to stand since he could hold his head. Seriously. It's quite possibly his favorite thing to do. And now he can pull him self up to standing if you're holding his hands. When he's lying on the floor, we hold out our hands and say "Anderson, hold on to our hands." Then he grab them while we pull him up to sitting position. Then, he'll pull your hands so that they are above his head and pull himself up to a standing position! He's really proud of himself every single time he does it and smiles and laughs. When he falls down, he'll just grab your hands again, put them above his head and repeat the process. Once he got mad at me because I wanted to clap instead of helping him stand. Just recently (meaning the last few days) he's been able to take a few steps while standing. He doesn't do it all the time but he's beginning to understand the concept of moving his feet while standing. He can't pull himself up to standing while holding onto other stationary objects (ie coffee table, sofa, etc..) So far it's only while we're holding his hands that he's able to do it. He seems much more interested in standing/walking than crawling. Who knows? Maybe he'll be one of those babies that skips crawling and goes straight to walking.
Okay, if there's anything he likes better than standing, it's eating. This boy LOVES to eat. Seriously LOVES to eat. He's still eating purees but finger foods is his real love. We started finger foods around 7 months with the puffs. Then we moved on to crackers only because I got so frustrated feeding him purees one night that I gave him a teeny tiny bit of my multi-grain cracker that I was snacking on before dinner. Well, he loved it and we haven't turned back since. He is quite the self-feeder. He's very good at it if I say so myself. Of course it took awhile for him to figure it out and get it into his mouth everytime, but at 9 months and 6 days, he's a pro at it. He would rather eat finger foods than purees so we're really trying to find and make different foods for him to eat. Stuff we've tried and he's loved are puffs (of course) bananas, avocados, pasta, mac and cheese, grated cheese, carrots, tofu (either plain or dusted with crushed crackers), graham crackers, turkey-apple meatloaf, sweet potato pancakes, peaches, bread, egg yolk, and today we tried cottage cheese. He seemed to like it but I think the jury is still out. Oh, he also tried so raspberry frozen yogurt.....and, uh, he liked it. He usually doesn't like cold things and usually scrunches up his nose, but then he tasted it and thought, Wow. Cold things can be yummy! We are constantly looking and searching for other finger foods that he can eat because 1) he likes it better than purees and 2) it gives us time to eat too since he's busy feeding himself. He still gets most of his veggies through puree but I think we're going to try and find some veggies he can eat. Here's a pic of the boy at work eating some cheese
Did I mention how happy Anderson is when he eats? He is always smiling, laughing, talking, screaming, and kicking his legs when he eats. He truly, truly loves food. Just like mommy and daddy ;)
When he was 8.5 months old, he finally cut his first tooth. It wasn't too bad but he was mighty cranky for a couple of days. Soon after, he cut his second tooth. Both are on the bottom. No more goofy toothless smile :(
Hmm...what else is he doing? For some reason, he's gotten into hitting himself on the head. No idea where that came from. He also shakes his head as if he's saying "no, no, no". I don't think he actually knows what "no" means, but when we say No, no, no, he'll shake his head. He likes to spit, which is
real fun when you're trying to feed him purees. LOVES to drink water. We tried with the sippy cup but we just didn't have the patience so he just drinks from a cup. He love playing with balls. He'll pick them up and bang them together (something my mom taught him). He can even play catch with you! He can throw the ball towards you (he's really good if you're playing with the O-ball) and if you throw/roll it back, he'll pick it up and throw it again. He can also kick the ball (another thing my mom taught him). Just this past weekend, he learned how to high five and wave bye-bye. He's not waving every single time we do it, but he's good at the high-five.
All in all, the past couple of months we've seen him grow so much. We're having so much fun with him and are head over heals in love with our little guy. He is so happy and smiley and such an easy going baby. I can't believe 9 months has already passed. It goes by so quickly. My little baby is growing up to a little boy. But, at times, he still is our little baby
I'm sure there is so much more I can say about him and who he is but I think I'd be here forever.
