9 Months Old

*VIDEO*
Our happy little boy is doing great! Thriving at school, growing like a weed, and still as giggly and bubbly as ever. He's 19 lbs. 14 oz (50th percentile) and 29.375 inches (85th percentile).

Likes at 9 Months:

• Crawling! Ford started army crawling about two weeks ago. We keep waiting for him to pop up on his knees to crawl on all fours, but his teacher tells me the army crawl does count as officially crawling. So... we have a crawler!

This was taken two weeks ago -- one of his first attempts at crawling. He's MUCH faster now.

PEEKABOO



• Making a mess! Now that Ford is mobile, our house looks like a tornado ran through it.

• Chasing Chase. This is pretty funny to watch. Ford has always been very interested in Chase; watching his every move, reaching for him. Now he's after him constantly! Last night they were doing circles around the living room as Ford would get close and Chase would run away. Then Ford would get close, and Chase would run away. At one point I think Chase was playing with him because he was bouncing around with his toy and killing it, then dropping it near Ford. Of course Ford would go after it, which he isn't allowed to do because he sticks it in his mouth, so I'd have to throw it. And Chase would run and bring it back. And the cycle would start over. Unfortunately, there are also times when Chase wants nothing to do with Ford, and he gets nippy if Ford gets too close. The other night Chase was hiding under a chair (which he tends to do before bedtime when he's tired), and Ford was trying to get under there after him. Chase wasn't happy about that. He growled. Ford cried. And Mommy had to intervene.

Dislikes at 9 Months:

• Not getting what he wants. Ford has demonstrated a bit of a temper when we take something away from him that he isn't supposed to have (e.g., a coffee table book, my iPhone, Chase's toy). As my Mom pointed out, "now the real parenting begins." We're (trying) to teach him discipline by saying "No," "Don't touch," "Let go," etc. I'll admit, though, it's hard to be firm and not to laugh when he looks at you with those big blue eyes and giggles.

New Discoveries:

• Table food! We're slowly moving from store-bought baby food to "real" food. His school is now feeding him selected foods from the cafeteria menu. I think they even try to let him feed himself, but from what I've heard it hasn't been successful. He tends to squish his hands in it without actually bringing the food to his mouth.

9 Month Pictures:
Professional pictures are coming soon. For now, these will have to do. :)

Categories: the kids