9 Months In, 9 Months Out!

My little man has been in this world just as long as it took to "cook" him! At Ben's 9 month checkup, he weighed 19 lbs, 2.9 oz ~ whoa! No wonder my arms are aching lately! That seems big, but was 30% for weight, and his height remained in the 90% at 29.5 inches.

Ben's into all kinds of new things. He's learned how to climb the stairs, so we put up the baby gates, in addition to all the other childproofing items in the house. He's pulling up and cruising everywhere and can stand alone for a second or two when he wants to. Little Man is so, so curious about everything ~ trashcans, toilet paper rolls, electrical cords....nothing is safe from his quick little hands. He loves "rearranging" our breakfast and dining room chairs around, and unfortunately, playing with electrical cords. I've done my best to get rid of or hide all of them, but he still manages to make a bee-line for the few that I can't eliminate.

Let's see...he's got six teeth now, LOTS of hair (we had to cut a little over his ears because he kept pawing at them like they were itchy!). He's outgrowing Size 3 diapers, and is now taking a bath in the "BIG" bathtub.

Ben's still not crazy about being spoon fed, and most meal times are a struggle, even with foods he likes. He can feed himself small pieces of whole wheat bread, baby puffs, diced banana, and a few other things. My goal for the next month or two is to really explore foods that are appropriate for him to eat that he can feed himself. He seems to be much more content with those. Oh, and speaking of feeding...we finally dropped his last feeding of the day at 10 p.m. We were waking him up (barely) to eat in hopes that 1). he'd sleep through the night, and 2). get enough calories in the day. We hadn't planned to stop it since he had dropped from 50% to 30% in weight, but after a few days of only drinking 2 oz. and then a few more of refusing it completely, we just quit. He did fine. Maybe now he'll start eating more throughout the day.

Lastly, my favorite new thing is that Ben initiates Peek-A-Boo now! Just this week, I was checking him out in the rearview mirror, talking to him and he pulled the blanket up over his face....he was wanting me to say, "Where's Ben?!". So, I said it (as we always do when we're holding the blanket over his eyes) and he pulled the blanket down ~ so pleased with himself. (Then repeat 80 times, ha ha) How cute!!!