Mischievous Monday

Just wanted to share some pics I took just before his afternoon nap today. He was busy being impish and mischievous - two of his specialties. A couple of these shots show him getting ever closer to being officially mobile, so be on the look-out for another milestone report soon. In the meantime, I'll be busy baby-proofing the house!

"Eh, what's up, Doc?"

I just think he looks more like a toddler than a baby in this one. *tear*

"If I can just get my rear end to cooperate with my front end, I'll be on the move!"

Milestone: Pulling Up

Milestone Alert! Over the past couple of days, Henry has been working on something new. I've not posted this sooner because I didn't want to jump the gun, but now I think it's official - he's pulling up.

About two days ago, I was playing with him in the family room. I sat on the sofa, opposite him on the floor. He was flat on his bottom, facing me. I put my hands at the edge of the couch, and gestured for him to grab and hold them. When he did, he started pulling himself up. His feet slid under the bottom of the sofa, so he wasn't coming all the way up to a straight and tall stand, but he went up as far as he could go. He did this a handful of times, and when he was up, I repositioned his feet to steady him, and then encouraged him to take steps alongside the couch to reach a toy or my hand. He's not ready for that yet, but I predict he will be soon.

Yesterday morning, when we first went in to get him, he was up on one knee in his bed, having pulled up on the rails. Throughout the day yesterday, we practiced the pulling up on my hands exercise without the couch. I sat on the floor opposite him, and he pulled up, his feet sliding until they reach my lap. He got up to a better stand this way, without his feet being trapped beneath the sofa.

This morning, during a marathon nap resistance, I walked in to redirect him back to trying to go to sleep and found him standing straight up in his bed holding on to the rails. He had been fussing some, and when I came in, he smiled a triumphant beaming smile - I think he wanted to show off! He's got so many new tricks, he hasn't got time for napping!

He is not quite graceful about it yet, and other than his bed, he's not shown any interest yet in using furniture to pull up, but I expect he'll be trying that next. I'll try to get some pictures when he does!

Nine Months

Henry is nine months old today. He's been here longer now than he was in my womb. That is astounding and yet sobering for me because it means he is growing just so much faster than I can stand. We have a well-baby visit coming up next week where we'll get weight and length stats, but we did make a doctor's visit early this week for an ear infection, and he weighed in at 24.5lbs. He has almost tripled his birth weight. I am anxious to know his length (or can we call it height yet?) too, but not so much that I'm going to try to figure it out on my own before his appointment. I'm going to guess as much as 30 inches - he was almost 28 at six months.

My blog is young - I so wish I had started the first time I thought about doing this - so it hasn't recorded each of his milestones as he's hit them over the past nine months, so I'll do my best to list the big ones.

*He blessed us with first smiles at around 6 weeks.
*He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, then regressed at 11 weeks and hasn't consistently done it since. YAWN.....
*He could hold up his head for periods of time without support at around 8 weeks.
*He started to imitate some letter sounds at 3 months.
*He stopped night feedings between 3 and 4 months.
*He could roll from back to belly at 3.5 months.
*He could bear weight on his legs at 4 months.
*He could sit assisted at about 4 months.
*He started rice cereal at 4 months.
*He could roll both ways by 4 months, but only did so rarely.
*He could sit unassisted at 5 months for periods of time - unlimited by 6 months.
*He weaned from the swaddle at 6 months.
*He found his feet at 6 months. :)
*He was a babbler by 6 months.
*He was eating pureed veggies and fruits by 6 months.
*He started saying "mama" and "dada" at around 7 months.
*He started finger foods at 7.5 months, but is still very picky about them.
*He could put in his paci at 7 .5 months.
*He cut his first two teeth at 7.5 months.
*He started rolling for fun and mobility just before 8 months.
*He started showing readiness to start crawling at 8.5 months - pushing up on hands, scooting back end, pushing up on toes, and occasionally getting both front and rear ends off the ground at the same time...
*He could hold his own bottle at 8.5 months.
*He could sit up from a laying position just before 9 months.

I take pictures of him each month on his "month-day", and they're posted over in the sidebar - be sure to check them out and see how he's grown. Here's a few more I took this morning: