9 Months

Connor had his 9 month checkup a couple weeks ago, which signals another Connor catchup post. I love the stage Connor is at now! He's sitting, crawling, standing with help, playing and learning so much every day. I love watching the wheels turn in his head as he figures things out. He has learned some lovely new tricks which are not necessarily our favorite, although they are pretty funny sometimes. He shakes his head "no" when he is full or if he doesn't like something you're doing (which I am amazed that he has picked up on already!), and he throws mini tantrums by screaming or throwing his head back in a fit when he's frustrated or upset. He has a bit of a stubborn streak, which I suppose you could really take your pick of which parent he got that from. But there are plenty of other things we love about him right now. He loves to rough-house with Dad whenever he's home and he knows that when Dad is around, it's play time! He's also quite adventurous and thrill-seeking. He loves to be thrown and pushed around, loves to wrestle, and when he takes a tumble off the couch or bed or whatever and we catch his foot just in time--huge crowd pleaser!! He laughs and laughs like it's the best thing in the world! (I'm very worried that I have a little Adam on my hands, which means yearly hospital visits are in our future!) He babbles around the house, explores everywhere we go (but always keeps Mom in sight), he smiles at everyone, makes hilarious facial expressions-he's super expressive even with his eyebrows, and he LOVES to be outside! Every time I pick him up and walk to the front door he almost leaps out of my arms in excitement that he just can't contain. Going outside solves every and any problem. He laughs at the most random things and laughs hysterically especially when he's tired.

Our little man did go through a bit of a difficult stage for the last couple months however. He was not typical Connor. He was crabby, didn't want to take naps, was waking up 2-3 times a night, etc etc. We could not figure out what the problem was, and now that we know it seems kind of obvious! When I took him to the doctor and they weighed and measured him, the doc said he had dropped off quite a bit in the weight department. I told her that my milk seems to be drying up. She said that would probably be the answer to all the issues he'd been having. I discussed with her the situation with his rejecting a bottle and not having figured a sippy cup yet, so she said we could just add the formula powder to his baby food. AHA! A wonderful solution! She said that with that he should get all the nutrients he needs and gain the weight he should be gaining and that I could even stop nursing if I want. I eagerly and gratefully decided to start weaning since his EIGHT teeth for the last TWO months have been a serious killer! The only problem is that she said that without nursing and no bottle or sippy that he would probably start to get pretty backed up digestively without liquids. So I continued to push the sippy cup and lo and behold as soon as I put some apple juice in it, he suddenly figured it out! That spoiled little kiddo! Too good for water I guess! That first day that I put the apple juice in, that sippy cup literally did not leave his hand! So thankfully weaning has been fairly easy now that he's so full after meals that he's exhausted, and loves the juice so much that he doesn't really seem to care that he's not being nursed at naps or bedtimes. Although I have been so thankful that I could nurse Connor and have loved the sweet one-on-one bonding that it's provided for us, I am so excited to be done and on to the next stage (and free to call in a babysitter every now and again!)

Above all, Adam and I are thrilled to finally have our fun, happy, easy-going Connor back!! The poor kid was just so hungry all that time! Just goes to prove to me yet again that no mater how much you think you know about kids, there's always more to learn and plenty of (sometimes frustrating) mysteries to unfold as a parent!

9 month stats:
29.5 inches (still 90th percentile)
19 lbs 1 oz

This is what we call his model pose that he does all the time

Did I mention he LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? If I need him to be still and entertained for a bit while I shower or w/e, I'll put him in his bouncer and turn on Mickey, or if he's crying and nothing else will calm him down Mickey will! It's instantaneous too, the second it comes on he grins and is glued. Does this make me a bad mother?

Doing a little light reading