Elliott - Nine Months Old

I'm late with Elliott's nine month post because I wanted to get his growth stats at our check-up. Unsurprisingly, he's still in the 75th to 90th percentile for height and weight while his head circumference is perfectly average.

His biggest change this month is that he started army crawling just a few days into the month. He gets faster and shows more stamina with each day. He can even go up and down a single step on his belly. He loves all of Madeleine's toys (especially her tea cups), floor heating/cooling vents (which he has mastered removing), and doors. Like his sister, he's also interested in electrical outlets, so I'm glad that all of ours remain childproof.

We've done a lot of traveling this month (Hawaii and Texas) with mixed results. Elliott is less contemplative than Madeleine and more insistent about being mobile. Combining that personality with his size, flights are challenging. His sleep was mixed during both of our trips with more screaming than I would have liked. I think he just wakes up when he is between sleep cycles and has a hard time going right back to sleep in a new place. The first night back from each trip was rough, too, but, after one long session of crying (yes, we're those parents), he has otherwise slept through the night.

Elliott continues to be a pretty good eater, not showing much favoritism. He passed his baked egg challenge, which means that he is cleared to eat foods that contain egg as long as the egg is thoroughly cooked. We've used our favorite sippy cups with Elliott, and he has taken to them pretty well. There are times during meals when he will start to fight the food (throw it on the floor, bat at the spoon) because he's thirsty and only wants water, which he gets at each meal. He still nurses four times a day (wake up, after each nap, and bedtime), which I anticipate continuing until we start weaning in earnest (August probably). Hopefully I can survive his current habit of pinching me while nursing. The pediatrician drew my attention to swollen lower gums, so I may have teeth to contend with sooner rather than later.

Elliott continues to be chatty. Most of the time that means babbling, but it can also mean screaming. He screams - in the highest pitch, most ear-piercing scream ever - when he is really excited. His crying also tends toward screaming and away from fussing. Between his voice and his crawling, I think we're seeing more and more of Elliott's personality. He's not quite as laid back as we'd originally thought but rather persistent and determined. At the same time he's very sweet and cuddly, generously offering smiles and laughs.

I had a little help in the photography department this month as big sister wanted to photograph Elliott with her "camera" (a turtle toy with a tiny mirror on it, which she consistently pretends is a camera).