The Michael Family Musings: Nate, Month 9

Stats:
Weight: 18 pounds 2 ounces, 23^rd percentile

Height: 28.5 inches, 57^th percentile

Size: 9 month clothes and size 3 diapers, but we’re transitioning into 12 month clothes as well. We’ve also had to start using overnight diapers at night.

Appearance: Nate is definitely filling out more! His hair is getting long enough that it whisps out at the ends right over his ears. I also discovered that he has a birthmark on his leg!

Food:

Nate is still getting breastmilk 3x per day; twice in a sippy and one breastfeed. He definitely loves “milkies”! Feeds have been easier for me since he’s using the sippy cup now and I no longer have to hold a bottle. He’s becoming less and less interested in purees, and instead wants all of the solid food he can get his hands on. We’ve tried a lot of new things this month, and have yet to find anything he won’t eat. His favorites right now are bread of any kind and the Gerber fruit and veggie melts. He still loves bananas, but interestingly, this is one thing he prefers in puree form as opposed to the solid food. He likes bananas, but he’s much more excited about eating banana purees.

Sleep:

Sleep continues to improve, but we’re still not all the way where we want to be. Most nights he sleeps 11-12 hours, but 1-2 times a week he’s still waking up in the middle of the night for seemingly no reason. It usually takes about an hour to get him back to sleep using the Ferber method. Most days he still takes 3 naps, but I think we’re starting to transition to 2. His naps are getting longer and starting later, so I think we’ll be at 2 by the end of the month. This is good because big sister starts school up again next week and I need him on a schedule that coordinates with drop off and pick up times. We don’t let him nap any later than 6pm.

His eat/sleep schedule looks something like this:
7-8a – wake up and have milk in a sippy cup
10ish – nap
12:00ish – solids
2ish – nap
4ish- nurse
4:30-5 – 3^rd nap if needed
6ish – solids
8-8:30 – bottle and bedtime

We have playtime or run errands between eating and sleeping.

Milestones:

Little man officially has 4 teeth! His top front 2 teeth are just about all the way in. I’m fairly certain he’s also working on another bottom tooth.

He can stand independently for about 30 seconds.

He’s taken some tentative steps (most he’s done is 3) without holding onto anything. I really feel like he’ll be walking before the end of this month.

Still lots of fast crawling, pulling up, and cruising around on the furniture. He also enjoys going for strolls with his walker.

He continues to do well with his signs. He signs ‘milk’, ‘more’, ‘puppy’ (a sign he made up), and ‘water’ pretty consistently. He will occasionally sign ‘all done’ and ‘eat’. I’m not sure he’s done ‘thank you’ yet, but we’re still working on it.

He started clapping! You can tell he’s really proud of himself about this one! He claps a lot when I sing or when he hears music, and also if we say “yay Nate!”.

He’s started getting more interested in toys, particularly the ones sister is playing with. He definitely likes this more than she does!

Still lots of babbling and noises, but I don’t think we have any words yet. I do think he’s starting to figure out that saying ‘dadadadada’ gets Jason’s attention though.

No real stranger danger yet, but he does study new/unfamiliar people carefully.

He’s starting to hear ‘no’ a lot more now that he’s getting into things he shouldn’t. He definitely recognizes that the word has a negative connotation. If I say it loud and sternly enough, he cries. Otherwise he thinks it’s hilarious.

He uses the pincer grasp just fine, but he likes taking big bites so he typically shoves handfuls of food into his mouth if he’s allowed to.

Things I want to remember about this month:

We went on vacation this past month, so Nate got to experience his first plane ride. He slept/nursed some on both flights, and got a little fussy, but overall he did well. He also handled hotel life well. We were off schedule the whole week we were gone, so he took lots of naps in the car seat and/or in the carrier. Overall, I was pleased with how the trip went!

He’s just so eager to walk. He gets so excited!

He is starting to get interested in Mia’s toys. She doesn’t love this because it finally means she has to share, but he loves playing with sissy.

His favorite things:

Playing with big sister, snuggling when he’s sleepy, banging toys on everything, his walker, dancing with mama, looking for the puppies, pulling on lips to check out people’s teeth, pulling hair, peek-a-boo, being tickled, bath time, eating, balls, rattles, anything he’s not supposed to play with, bread, standing up

A new section! Things he doesn’t like:

Being buckled in the car seat (though he’s totally fine once he’s in there), diaper changes, being told no, when mama leaves the room

And now, the pictures!