9 months

Today (April 22) you are 278 days old.  This is significant because I was pregnant for 277 days.  So as of today, you have officially been outside of my tummy for longer than you were inside. 

Your 9 month appointment went very smoothly, especially since you don't have to get any more vaccines until your 12 month appointment.  The doctor did spend a lot more time this visit discussing your growth, since you have completely fallen off the growth charts.  Your growth has just kind of plateaued.  After remeasuring you, checking your height to weight ratios, and consulting the "special" growth charts in a hidden drawer, it appears that at the moment we're just taking a "wait and see" kind of approach, at least until you're 2 or 3 and we have a better idea of what your body's master plan is.

Your stats:

Weight:  15 lbs 10 oz
Height:  25.5 inches

There are SO many new things you are doing at 9 months!  Your growth may have slowed to a crawl, but your personality, social, and mental skills have gone through a spurt.  So here are the things about you right now:

• We finally bumped you up to 6-9 month clothes, although many of them are huge, and you are still wearing a lot of 3-6 month things because they fit better.
• You have figured out how to take off your socks, sometimes.  Usually you don't give them much thought, but if you want them off you can eventually work them free.
• You've also figured out how to undo your diaper, so we have to make sure you're always clothed otherwise eventually you grab a corner of the velcro straps and pull.
• You've become a very loud yawner.  It's very comical because you have such full-face yawns so one half of your face is always scrunched up as you let out a loud "ahhhhhhhh"
• You are a furious splasher in the tub.  It's serious business when it's splash time.  You sit there straight-faced as you hit your open palms up and down.
• You "pose" for the camera now when you're in a silly mood.  When you see the red light you do your cheesy grin with your eyes scrunched and grinning as big as you can.  It looks more unsettling than actually smily but it makes us laugh anyway.
• You mimic sounds that we do (popping our lips open, blowing strawberries, blowing air)
• You're very cheerful when you wake up (as long as you're not waking before you're really ready).  You will wake up and just start playing with your binky and jabbering to yourself until I go get you from your crib.
• You will "show" your toys to us by holding them out for us to see, although you haven't yet learned to drop them into our hands.
• You often sit with your ankles crossed.  I can't believe how well you can still keep your balance this way since you're playing and bending and twisting the whole time.
• You sign "milk" daily.  We think that you have decided it means "thirsty" because you don't seem to mind if we offer you your sippy with juice or water instead.  We want to start being more consistent with our other signs now that you've shown you can pick it up.
• You often twist onto your left side when you sleep, with your head facing up toward the head of the crib.  It's almost like you spotted something behind your head and stretched and twisted to reach it but then fell asleep in the process.  It's always the left side, never the right, which amuses us that you still have prenatal muscle memory, since you were on your left side in the womb too.
• You are more willing to give hugs and snuggle a little now.  You never snuggle for long since you're so active and curious and don't stay still for long, but when I'm carrying you, you often will give me a hug or bury your face in my shoulder and start making sounds with your mouth pressed into my clothes.
• You're exploring your reach more.  You like to see what exactly you can reach.  For example, in the carseat I will often see you sitting or even sleeping with both arms stretched to the sides and holding onto the carseat handle.
• You have started sleeping through the night again, sporadically.  Hallelujah.  The first time was on Conference Sunday 3 weeks ago and since then you've slept through the night about 10 times.  I'll take it!  Hopefully it will just keep getting better!
• You've discovered you can create noise and love to bang toys together.
• You are better at telling us when you don't want what we're offering because you push our hands away.
• We bought you a sippy cup in an effort to try to get you to drink more liquids and you are very good at holding it by yourself.  I do have to tip you on your back to drink out of it because you either aren't strong enough or haven't figured out how to hold the cup up toward the ceiling to get the water - you just hold it and put your mouth on it and expect the water to come somehow.
• You've invented a game that you think is hilarious.  If you are playing and our feet are next to you, you like to grab our toes and then look at us and wait for us to laugh.  The first time you did this I laughed because you surprised me and it tickled, and you thought it was so funny that you always expect us to laugh now when you grab our toes.
• You are on a great schedule right now - you've moved from 3 naps to 2.  You wake up at 7am, and go to bed for the night at 8pm.  You take naps at 10am and 3pm and usually naps for close to an hour and a half or even two hours sometimes.  You always nurse then eat solids every time you wake up, so 3 times a day with a last nursing right before bed.