9 Months

Graeme made 9 months on October 8th! We had his 9 month well visit on Monday. He weighed in at 16 lbs, 13 oz, measured 25 inches, and had a head circumference of 50.5 cm. Overall, his growth is tracking well.  He also got a flu shot and some routine blood work to check for anemia, and everything looked good!

Graeme has just been growing and developing by leaps and bounds!  He's mastered crawling now and will come after us if we go into another room. He can also sit very well, although he occasionally loses his balance.  In addition, he pulled himself up for the first time this past Thursday! He was sitting in the chair for me to take his 9 month photos, and he grabbed the arm of the chair and pulled himself from sitting to standing. I'm a proud mommy! :)

He's continuing to cut teeth like crazy! He now has 4 teeth coming in on the top and 2 teeth on the bottom.  Unfortunately, this makes for some serious crankiness at times (especially evening/night).  His sleep is still a bit erratic; he usually wakes up 2-3 times a night now.  Nap times are also inconsistent.  If he takes nice long naps, we can do just a morning and afternoon nap, but when he takes 30-45 minute naps we have to give him 3 naps.

He is still loving water! Yesterday evening he was playing with his hands in the garden sprinklers, so Steven pulled out the big sprinkler and ran through it with him a few times. He had such a blast, with a huge grin on his face when they'd go through the water.  He loves being outside.  We're all so impatient for some cooler weather so it'll be easier to spend more time outdoors.  Right now it's still getting so hot during the day. The evenings haven't been a bad temperature, but for some reason there are tons of gnats outside so it's still yucky to be out there. 

 Graeme also likes to play with his stacking rings.  In particular, he likes to remove the rings. He's not too excited about putting them back on.  He also likes to throw or roll things down the hall and crawl after them.  He's been enjoying a little activity table he has too.  It's something we can use for him to try to pull himself up, and he loves all the sounds and buttons to push.

He's been doing a good job eating his solids again.  However, he still has no interest in finger foods so we'll be trying to work on that.  The doctor said it's not uncommon for babies his age to refuse finger foods, but of course it's an important skill to learn so we're just going to keep trying!

Overall, he's been doing great! He gets frustrated sometimes because he wants to walk/run everywhere he possibly can and of course he just doesn't have those abilities yet. But he is determined to master every skill, and I think that determination is going to serve him well. He's getting to a much less fussy stage, and it's been great to see him get excited about different things that catch his attention.  Tomorrow is our follow-up appointment with the sleep doctor, so I'll be sure to post the explanation of his sleep study results.  We also have a play date with Graeme's new friend Ezra coming up on Saturday, so that will be fun!