Nine months old!

Nine months seems like forever when you are pregnant, but once that baby is on the outside, the time flashes by way too quickly. Parker is now nine months old and I cannot believe it!


How can it have already been eight months since he was this little guy?


At nine months Parker is:

* A joy! He loves to be cuddled and held, but is not quite motivated enough to crawl to things he wants. He would rather fuss at us and whine until he gets his way. One of these days I know he'll start moving, but until then, I'm content to enjoy his babyhood as long as possible!
* A wonderful night sleeper. He still goes to bed around 7 every night and generally sleeps for at least 12 hours. Sometimes he wakes up a little before, but usually he will entertain himself until I go to get him around 7. Some mornings he is pulling the bumper down and peeking out toward the door, waiting for me to come in.
* Getting better about napping. He's waiting a bit longer for his morning nap most days (until 9:30 or 10:00). I try not to let him sleep too long (not more than 1.5 hours) and then he will do better with his afternoon nap (generally he will nap from 2-4). I dreaded the day Thomas gave up his morning nap, but now I find myself eagerly anticipating this milestone with Parker. I don't think it will be anytime soon though!
* Quite the baby talker. He makes lots of noises and when he gets really excited about something, he just keeps saying things like "Dah! Dah! Dah! Duh! Duh! Eowwww!" over and over again. When I read a book that has any kind of loud exclamation in it, he tries to mimic me. He says various consonant sounds like "da," "fa," "ba" and "ay," but not quite "ma" or anything close to mommy...yet!
* Totally in love with his big brother. If I just say Thomas' name, Parker gives a big smile and looks to see if he is coming.
* A smiler. He smiles and laughs frequently, and has some of the cutest facial expressions. He has a "stink face" as I call it, where he squints his eyes and gives a wide-mouth grin and it cracks me up. He usually does that to mimic me.
* A grabber. He reaches for everything. When I'm holding him and he sees something on the floor he wants, he tries to turn his body as if he thinks if I just put him down, he could run over to it. He is very strong when he wants to get somewhere.
* A roller. Though he doesn't crawl, he rolls to try to get where he wants to go and he is quite capable of turning himself 360 degrees to get where he wants to be to roll somewhere else. He also pushes himself up quite far.
* Teething. His bottom front teeth are coming in (they are about 1/4 of the way in), and his top front teeth are starting to come through now. His left front tooth has almost fully broken through the gum. So his hands are always in his mouth these days...and anything else he can find!
* Still very much a thumbsucker.
* Eating okay, but definitely prefers things that are sweet. I have to mix certain veggies with a fruit to get him to eat it. Nurses 5-6 times a day. He has absolutely no interest in table food or anything that is not pureed. I have tried numerous times to get him to eat something like a Gerber puff and he just gags until he throws it up. The doctor says to keep trying and eventually he will get it.
* Wearing 12 months clothing (moving into 12-18 M things in some brands).



He had his WBV on Tuesday and his measurements were:
Height: 28 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs, 7 oz (50th percentile)
Head circ: don't remember exactly, but it was the 65th percentile

I don't like to compare too much, but Thomas at this age was nearly 30 inches and 22 pounds. I laugh when people tell me they think Parker is "big." After having Thomas who was consistently in the 90th percentiles, having a child in the 50th just seems odd...though it's completely "average" and normal, I know!

The doctor said he is completely on track for everything, and not to worry about him not crawling because he still has time for that too. So I'll just enjoy him being the cute little baby that he is...and I'll share some more pictures with all of you!



Hands constantly in the mouth!


Showing off his two teeth:


His funny fake smile:




I know I say it every month, but I truly cannot believe another month has passed us by. It's frightening to me how quickly they all pass and I don't want to forget anything! I want to enjoy every cuddle, every kiss he slobbers on my face, every time he blows a raspberry while he's eating his food! Before long I think he'll be going on his first date or something and sometimes I just don't want to blink for fear of missing a moment.