9 months old: up and onward!

In this case procrasting a few days  2 weeks on the monthly update paid off, as I now have several more updates to share.  Every Monday when I take Daniel to my mother in law's house she swears he's changed over the weekend.  Usually I just think, well, that's just grandma talking, but in this case she would actually be right.  He really did change a lot over just a few days!

New developments
About a week ago Daniel learned how to pull up to kneeling and standing.  He showed this new trick off for the first time last Saturday afternoon when I went in to get him from his nap (which he didn't take, having decided to spend that time making noise instead).  For awhile when he'd see me come in he'd crawl over to the side and reach through the slats to grab me, but this time he crawled over, kneeled, put his hands on the top rail, and pulled up to standing.  We both laughed, and he was especially pleased with himself.  Then I thought, time to take down the mobile and lower the crib mattress!

Also, we can now crawl up the stairs.  When we first tried a few weeks ago he needed a little help but has steadily improved, and now he can climb the full staircase unassisted (albeit heavily supervised).  Which means it's time for Kevin to install the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs!

And, we have 2 new teeth.  The 2 top middle teeth both cut through last weekend.  And as I'll mention below, we have some new developments in dining.

In other news, he's become quite a bit more vocal and can make the ba, da, la, ma, na, and ya sounds as well as a high-pitched gurgle and a lower growl.  He can also make a clicking noise and loves to blow raspberries, even if-especially if-he has food in his mouth.  Cute as it is, we've decided it's probably best not to encourage it!  He isn't trying to say any specific words yet but he has a lot to communicate!

We also got Daniel his convertible car seats once we finally saw them on sale.  We installed the one for my car but will see how we like it before we commit to it for sure.  It's definitely in our future, but Daniel is still well within the weight limits for his infant seat so we can keep him in that for several more months.  But we don't really use his old seat as a carrier anymore anyway, and never really did, and we're wondering if he may be more comfortable in the convertible as it gets hotter.  He's only ridden in it once so far so we'll have to report back next month once we've used it more.

9 month checkup
This month we had our first checkup with a pediatrician closer to the house and overall we were satisfied.  We liked the previous doctor, but we didn't love the long waits that were a feature of every visit so we decided to try another option.  I liked that the office had separate sick and well waiting areas and we were taken back within 5 minutes of our appointment time and saw the doctor within about 15-20 minutes.  Overall we liked the doctor...she wasn't enthusiastic about our choice to delay some vaccines (example: not giving Hep B at birth because D had no risk factors for it) but she seems willing to respect our decision.  We'll see how the next appointment goes.

Daniel weighed in at 17lb 1oz, so he had only gained an ounce from last month, but he grew a whole inch and a half to measure in at 28in.  He's definitely on the lighter end of the weight percentile chart but the doctor wasn't concerned.  He is eating well and the picture of health, and when your parents were long skinny kids...odds are you'll be a long skinny kid.

Eating
He nurses first thing in the morning and right before bed and takes 2 bottles and 3 solid meals every day and is a healthy eater.  I've heard that some babies start to lose interest in nursing around this age but D is as enthusiastic as ever.  In fact, now sometimes when I'm arranging the nursing pillow he gets impatient and crawls over and tries to latch on!

Daniel is enjoying a nice variety of foods and seems to like thicker textures.  I still make foods for him, but we're also really liking the Plum brand baby foods.  I like that they use organic foods, whole grains, and go beyond the basics to include things like quinoa, lentils, spinach, and pumpkin.  Daniel seems to like just about everything he tries.  He can self-feed himself puffs (like Cheerios) and grabs the spoon away to feed himself.  While he's a bit messy with it, he does generally hit the target pretty well.

He is also drinking fairly well from a sippy cup.  We tried some with a spout but he seems to prefer a straw instead.  He can pick up his cup, bring it to his mouth, drink from it, and put it down, all unassisted.

Sleeping
The good news is he still sleeps quite well at night, going down by 7:30 or so and sleeping till 6 or so.  The less-good news is, he isn't consistently getting 2 naps a day anymore, but he gets cranky when he misses one so it seems clear that he still needs 2.  We had been doing well putting him down from 9:45-12 and then again from around 2:30-4:30, but lately he hasn't been sleeping in the afternoon.  We're thinking we'll try to nudge his morning nap up closer to 9 and get him up by 11 or so, then try to get him down for the afternoon by 1:30-2.  Hope it helps...it might just be that he's resisting naps right now so he can practice his new tricks and he'll go back to his old patterns soon enough, but we'll see if adjusting forward a bit helps.

Pictures
A few weekends ago we had some pictures taken in the bluebonnets.  Daniel was more interested in taking in the scenery than smiling, but I think the photographer still got several good shots.  Here are a few: