9 months

Just keeping it real

Well, my big ole baby turned 9 months old on Saturday.  It is so hard to believe that he is growing so darn fast!  It really seems almost like yesterday that it was last tax season and I was counting down the weeks/months until he was born.  I know that people say you get pregnancy amnesia but so far it hasn't taken over yet.  Don't get me wrong, I would love to have at least one more kid, but leaning heavily towards adoption instead of birthing.

Gavin has seemed to really made a lot of progress this month.  I'm not really sure if it is just because this is a speedy development time for him or if he finally has felt good enough to get more active.  Don't get me wrong, he has never been a sluggish baby, he has always been a mover.  But this month he has taken it to an entirely new level.  It is like he is at 150% pretty much his entire waking life.  It is a lot of fun but also extremely exhausting and I know that this is only the beginning!

The tubes he had put in his ears in late January, haven't been a miraculous cure like they seem to have been for a lot of the kids we know, but the two ear infections he has had since then have been easily taken care of and I would assume a lot less painful since there is no pressure.  He did go almost an entire week without having a cough or a runny nose after they put them in, but since then it has been back to normal :-(.  Oh well, I know he will grow out of it eventually.

Gavin started trying to pull up when we took our trip to the mountains, but really mastered it this past month. A couple of weeks ago, I walked into his room after he woke up to get him out of bed and he was standing up in his crib holding onto the rails.  I knew it was on then. He pulls up on absolutely EVERYTHING, no matter how wobbly, how sharp or hard the corners are, and no matter what the risk of bruising.  He has also learned to cruise or walk holding on to things, he also does not care  what it is he is holding on to and if it will move as soon as he puts any pressure on it.  Clay and I just know that someone is going to think we are abusing our sweet boy since he is so incredibly pasty white like his Mom and bruises show up so easily.

Below are a few pictures I took with my phone which as you can see doesn't always get the clearest ones.  But I wanted to post as an example of just what he will pull up on and try to cruise on.  For those who don't know what that is that he is hanging onto, it is a jumper and that piece in the middle is as unstable as you can get!

One thing he has really started doing that is dangerous is flipping over and trying to crawl off of everything.  He really got to be a wiggle worm in the last couple of weeks and will seriously crawl straight off the couch and has absolutely no fear!  He has also become a handful on the changing table.  He immediately starts to flip over as soon as you lay him down.  Then he likes to get on his hands and knees on the end of it and stare over the edge like he wants to leap off.  To say the least diaper changing and putting on clothes has been a new test of patience for all involved.  Good thing I just started a Bible study on the Fruits of the Spirit, one of which is patience :-).

Gavin really loves music which is great, because so do Clay and I.  He watches his Your Baby Can Read videos every morning and just claps and claps his little hands when the songs come on.  It is so precious!  He also claps when we sing songs to him that he knows or just when he seems extra pleased with himself or something we have done.

He has also developed a bit of a sense of humor.  He has been saying dada for a while now but lately he says it non-stop.  He seems to take extra pleasure in saying it right after I ask him to say mama.  I wish I could describe well in words the pause he takes after I say mama and then his response with a mischievous glint in his eye, "Dada".  Little monster, you can tell he knows exactly what he is doing.  But he is so darn cute, that I can't possibly hold it against him.  Especially when I pick him up and he gives me a big hug.

I couldn't quite capture it in the video below but here is an excerpt of his daily conversation

His food has expanded to more finger foods.  He had his first cheese this month but his favorites are still veggies.  I have purchased almost every kind of sippy cup sold trying to get him to latch on, but as of Saturday no luck.  In the past week, he has really cut back on his formula consumption.  Our baby boy who normally loves to eat and never misses an opportunity to do so, has self reduced his intake big time.  It seems like he has become more interested in playing and getting into things than eating.  Don't worry, he is still getting plenty to eat believe me, but now instead of being at the top end of the spectrum for food intake recommendations he is at the lower end.  One item he has increased his consumption of is paper.  This boy likes to chew on paper like it is gum!  Which is kind of a problem because Clay has a bad habit of using half of a roll of paper towels and leaving them in various places.  So Gavin has quite a selection of paper to choose from.

First Cheese!  

Gavin wasn't in a particularly great mood when I took his monthly birthday pictures so I didn't get a lot of great smiles, mostly what I would call "thoughtful" expressions :-)  Since he insists on tearing up my paper each month, I decided to try something new and tape it on something he couldn't reach.  I think it is so funny how he rides with one arm on the handle bar and the other just hanging.  Like he is a teenager cruising in some car.

His "I am too cool for this" look

Finally, a sweet smile!

I imagine we will see this disgusted look many, many times in the coming years.

 And finally just some sweet and cute pictures from later that day when we were playing outside.  I couldn't choose which ones were my favorites so I just posted all of them.

Trying to figure out how he will get the paper out of Clay's hand.

Decides to just chew on Clay instead