William: 9 Months

9 Month Stats

Weight: 18-19 pounds

Length: 28.5 inches long/tall

Eating: Four feedings each day: 7/11/3/7:30 with solids & a slippy with water at 12:15pm & 6pm; We give William snacks as well: puffs, crackers, rice cakes, & cookies

Foods Will has tasted so far:
Fruits--> apple, avocado, banana, peas, mango, peach, plums, prunes, blueberry, & cantaloupe
Veggies--> sweet potato, acorn squash, green beans, carrots, peas, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes, beets, white potatoes, & kale
Grains--> baby oatmeal, barley, rice, pasta, quinoa, multi-grain crackers, cheerios, & toast
Protein--> chicken, pork, beef, salmon, egg yolks, black beans
Dairy --> whole milk yogurt, colby jack cheese, cheddar cheese

Bedtime: Bedtime begins about 7:30pm and Will is usually out by 8:10pm. He is going down for about 10-11 hours at a time. Working to stretch that even farther out.

Naps: Will takes two naps a day, about 1.5 hours each. He doesn't take a good first nap at daycare, but his second nap is better (probably because he is exhausted). His weekend naps are better, less distraction in the room by himself. We are trying to drop the catnap in the evening after daycare. 

Diapers: Fully into size 3 now

Clothes: 6-9mo and 9mo for clothing and 9mo for sleepers

Favorites: "Expensive" toys like empty cups, a coloring book, and the packaging for actual toys. He loves to toss toys around and follow them wherever they land. Bret gave him a soda bottle half-filled with water and Will loves to push it around the kitchen/dining room.

He has started to enjoy his teether toys more. He has one that is the shape of bbq ribs that he likes to chew on. Lots of drool is happening so maybe teeth are on the horizon?

William has a knack for finding and getting into anything we don't want him to find ;) 

Dislikes: William still doesn't like being alone. We are trying to leave him to do some independent play time in his room. Or even to play by himself while we are cooking dinner. 

Development: Will is a crawling machine! He can get pretty much anywhere he wants and fast. The only thing he isn't when he is crawling is quiet. He giggles or pounds on the ground as he moves around. He is now pulling himself up on anything & everything around him. He likes to balancing himself with his belly and go hands free for a couple of seconds. We have seen him cruise a few steps around our coffee table and while bracing against the wall. Low shelves & drawers are not safe from him anymore! William is also working on mastering the stairs.

We hear "mama" and "dada" a lot now. When we say "hi" or "hello" to Will, we get a response that sounds like his version of those words. His understanding of our words exceeds what he can currently say.

Looking Forward To: William & I are visiting California this month for his cousin Mila's 4th birthday and to visit the California family.

Nine Month Dr Appt

Nine Month Doctor's Appointment

Today was William's nine month appointment. He weighs 18lb 9oz (32%); weighed closer to 19lb on a different scale last week. He was measured at 28.5in long (61%).  His head measured at 17.75 around (54%). Will continues to stay out of the "watch zone" on his weight. He's still on the small side, but he's still going strong!

She listened to his heart & lungs and looked in his eyes & ears, which are all great. Will did not want to show Dr. Nash his gums/non-teeth, but he loved the light she had. His Dr recommended Tylenol or Motrin for any pain and suggested staying away from numbing things like oragel. Will has been a snotty mess the last couple of days and his gums are a little puffy, but he hasn't been any more irritable than usual. Not sure when those teeth are coming!

Dr did told us to continue three square meals a day with solids. Grains and fruit for breakfast, fruit and veggie at lunch, and a protein and veggie for dinner. But continue nursing/formula as that is there he is getting most of his nutrients now and for the rest of his first year.

No shots today! But flu shot next month and three shots at the 12 month appt :/

According to our doctor, what we need to be working on between now & his next appointment (12 month appointment)

-cuddles, love, and rocking :)

-reading to William each day!!

-encourage the babbling, cooing, & squealing Will does each day -- work on consonant sounds (mamama, dadada, bababa, gagaga, etc.); imitating the sounds we make

-start talking about and naming different body parts and animal sounds

-maintain a bedtime routine & putting baby to bed when they are awake so they can self-soothe

-be consistent with discipline; most of the time distraction can be a discipline took

Upcoming milestones to watch for:

-standing on own and cruising along furniture

-recognizing voices & faces beyond just mom and dad

-recognizing self in a mirror

-work on stacking blocks & putting objects into a cup

-clapping & passing toys between hands

Next Appt- twelve month appt in December

Standing & Climbing

It seems like William just learned to crawl and get around on his own. Now he is standing up everywhere he goes! Anything that can be pulled up on, William grabs onto. This means couches, baby gates, spindles, his crib, chairs, boxes, and people's legs.

 

NOT READY for stairs!!!

His favorite thing to pull up on is his new activity table (thank you, Nana & Papa!!). His daycare has one and I knew he would love one. Nana offered to get one for Will for home. We got it one week ago and he is obsessed with it! It has three levels of games/entertainment so hopefully it will be a fun toy for a while :)

William: 8 Months

8 Month Stats

Weight: _____

Length: _____

Eating: Continuing the same schedule as last month-- Five nursings four hours apart a day (7/11/3/7:30/DF) with solids at noon and a formula sippy cup with dinner at 6pm. We are doing chunky purees for his solids. I have pushed his DF back far enough that it should be dropped within the week! (Update: dropped cold turkey on this 8mo birthday; so far, so good!)


Foods Will has tasted so far:
Fruits--> apple, avocado, banana, peas, mango, peach, plums, prunes, & blueberry
Veggies--> sweet potato, acorn squash, green beans, carrots, peas, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, & tomatoes
Grains--> baby oatmeal mixed in with bananas/blueberries/yellow squash
Protein--> chicken (need to try this again)
Dairy --> whole milk yogurt (but he gets flushed every time he has it; not sure why, it doesn't seem to bother him)

Bedtime: Bedtime starts about 7:30pm and Will is usually asleep by 8:15pm. With the dreamfeed where it is now (at 9:25pm), he is going without milk for about 9.5/10 hours. Trying to stretch that out.

Naps: Will still takes two solid naps at home on the weekends. They are usually about 1.5-1.75 hours. At childcare, his naps are shorter and he usually needs a snooze during the 5 o'clock hour. This is usually with Bret & he loves getting his William snuggles in for the day :)

Diapers: Will is squeezing into those size 2 just barely. He wears a size 3 at night so he doesn't leak and I'm thinking he is going to be fully in size 3 soon.

Clothes: He is wearing mostly 6mo & 6-9mo clothing. It's crazy how an outfit changed the way he looks. We can put him in just a onesie and he still looks baby-ish, but if he's wearing pants (especially jeans!) or a shirt and pants/shorts, he looks like a little boy. He's so grown up!

Favorites: Being with me. I am his favorite person right now. Whenever I am near him, he needs to be touching me. If I am sitting on the floor in his room, where all of his toys are, he wants to be climbing all over me and pulling at me and giving me raspberries. I tell myself that I will miss it all very soon ;)

His daddy. When Bret comes in the room, whether he's getting home from work/up for the day/just left for a moment, Will yells with delight to see him! It's so awesome to see the huge smile on his face when he sees his dad.

Ruby the dog :) Ruby is the little dog of Alisa, Will's childcare provider. I think Ruby is a Yorkie. But Will loves to watch her run around and just stares at her. When I drop him off in the morning, he looks around trying to find where she is in the room. I think it's because they are both redheads!

Right now his favorite toy is his rattle. We have to pry it out of his hand for outfit changes and when he goes in his carseat.

Dislikes: Will now understands that when we leave the room we have left him alone. Sometimes he is okay with this, but other times he lets us have it! If the door is open, he crawls after us. If it is closed, he sit right next to it and cries, cries, cries. And cries...

Development: William is working on moving faster and faster! His crawling ability is awesome and he can cross a room just as fast as we can. He also enjoys his police car even more now as his legs are stronger. The car is less about the buttons he can push and more about helping him move around better.

This month, we had to lower Will's crib twice because he was starting to pull up on it. He gets on his knees and extends his arms over the side. We thought lowering it just once was going to be good enough, nope! The crib is on it's lowest setting now. At childcare, he sleeps in a pack-n-play (sometimes at home, too).

We have just begun the pulling up on things stage. Will is constantly showing us what we need to put away or find a higher place for. He loves to play with things that are not his toys, even if the toys are surrounding him. He's into everything right now, little explorer!

He's also quite the noise-maker. Bret said this week that when he crawls, he has to shriek & that Will isn't going to sneak up on anyone any time soon! We think we have heard him say "mama" and are trying to get him to say "dada" now. 

Looking Forward To: I look forward to the weekends each week now, then he & I get two days together! He adjusts back to his home schedule pretty well and has even "slept in" instead of waking early which he seems to do during the week.

I think we are looking forward to hearing more "words" from Will. And it seems like every day he learns how to do something new!

Playing all day at childcare is exhausting!

"I'm comin' for you!!"

the reason for lowering the bed...twice this month!

First day of childcare & mom back to work

He's on the move, so baby gates go up!

 

new tricks!

  

sitting up is easy now!

peek-a-boo

Sensory play

I found these activities off Pinterest/on a blog. They are sensory & exploratory toys and games for 6-10 month olds. All of them were easy to make and fun for Will.

Squishy Bags (gallon baggie, hair gel, sequins & poms, and duct tape)
He can push around the objects inside the bag and see the cause & effect of his actions.

  

also, check out those leg rolls ;)

Colored Ice Cube Chase (water, ice cube tray, food coloring, and shallow pan)
The ice cubes moved all over the water as Will tried to grab them. He had fun chasing them around!

This seemed like a good idea to Will, until the cold got to him ;) Then he wanted out immediately!

End of Summer & Back to Work

Whew! I never knew you could miss a little person so much! I went back to work this past Monday for three inservice days & students on Thursday and Friday. This means that Will went off to childcare instead of being at home all day.

Monday was a ROUGH morning for me! First off, Will decided this would be the day he wanted to wake up at 6am and cry cry cry (he normally wakes about 7am). I was just getting up myself and starting to get ready. Bret had worked overtime until 4am and (thankfully) went in a held Will until I was ready for work. Not sure how the morning would have gone if it would have been one of Bret's work-til-8am mornings. I was fine driving over to Will's at-home childcare and even with the physically dropping him off; Will was smiles the whole time. But once I was back in the care alone, I just got so sad (and am sad even typing this!!). I headed to work and there was a train on the way, so I had a quick cry session while I waited to be on my way again. Our meetings that day gave me a distraction from missing Will constantly and his childcare provider sent me a few pictures which made me happy. Sidenote: his childcare provider watches only teachers kiddos, so there are three other teacher's kids at my school who go there as well. She is super highly recommended & I am so happy she had an opening for my babe.

In my opinion, it is important for kiddos to see both parents work. Not only for financial reasons, but for Will to see that men & women both serve a need in the workplace. I love that I had the entire summer with him, getting to know his little personality and seeing how much he grew in those short months. But I want to be a teacher as well. I want to be with my third graders during the day & with my baby in the evenings.

On Monday after work!

Tuesday: We were so happy to see each other again after childcare!

He snuggled with me to sleep! This hadn't happened in MONTHS!!

When did he stop being a little baby?!

"Why is there a gate here?"

Hangin' out with dad

Helping mom organize for school

  

Mom is a jungle gym now

wherever mom is, I want to be there

newest trick

peek-a-boo

Beginning of summer: May 2016

End of summer: August 2016