Happy 9 months Charlie from your Mommy

Charlie,

Another month has flown by. This month has been probably one of you busiest with many firsts. You started crawling, clapping, pulling up on your own to a standing position and even got your first tooth! You stay pretty proud of yourself most days as you are constantly doing something new.

 

 
Here you are on the morning of Jan. 29th after you woke up and showed off your first tooth:

 

You had a well check-up so here are your stats:  You weigh 21 pounds 9 ounces (75th percentile) and your length is 29 and 1/4 inches (90th percentile).  Your head circumfirence is 18

You are still a big boy.  You are wearing mostly 9 month clothes.  If the outfit is a separate, 9 months fits you perfectly.  However, because of your length, you need 12 months in one piece outfits.  I'm noticing that it may not be long before you are out of your 9 month pajamas though.  The

This month, you were probably the sickest that you have been.  You had RSV, MRSA, Strep, Reflux, and a yeast infection all at once.  You were pretty pitiful but were well within a few days so we were just lucky that everything came and went so fast.  Well, the reflux didn't really go away.  Last month, your Mommy and Daddy were hopeful that you were getting better and even tried to stop some of your medicine but apparently, you weren't ready because this month has been awful for you.  You were back to throwing up every day to every other day.  Mommy hates it when you feel so bad.  Daddy and Mommy would do anything to make this go away for you.

It was also a sad month because your Great Grandpa passed away.  (More on Great Grandpa later.) 
You got to meet him once this summer. 

Your Mommy went to the funeral but you stayed home with Daddy.  (We decided that you shouldn't travel since you were recovering from your sickness.)  Mommy hadn't been away from you for any period of time with the longest being for work during the day.  You did just fine with your Daddy.  In fact, when Mommy got home, you seemed to really want your Daddy.  Mommy missed you lots and couldn't wait to get home and get kisses from you.  Luckily that only lasted a day and you were back to yourself and happy to be in your Mommy's arms. 

You love your brother Wally and we can always count on him to give you a good laugh.  You have started becoming interested in his toys, which is stressing him out!

 

You also love your brother's dog door.  We are constantly having to move you away from it.  One day, you are going out the door through the dog door, it's a matter of time.  Hopefully, you won't fall out on your head like you seem to be heading.  You also like to shut the door on Wally.  You seem to be particularly fond of his food and water too.  Something kind of funny about Wally but your Daddy and Mommy call him the Doo Doo detector.  He always lets us know when it's time to change your diaper as you can see from this video of how he gets his good sniffs. 

(Do you see how you are obsessed with the vents.  I don't know why they are so interesting to you.)

You have mastered picking up food finally and getting it to your mouth.  Mommy and Daddy really need to thank your daycare friends.  It seems that one of your friends was dropping food for you from their chair which is how/when you decided to start feeding yourself a little.  You need to work on your pincher skills because sometimes, it's pretty hit or miss on whether they actually make it in your mouth but every day it seems to get a little better.  You are also working on getting better with your sippy cup.  You love cheese!  You started eating american cheese slices and you love it.  You have also started stage 3 foods.  It seems that Mommy hasn't found any clear dislikes but your favorite food is any kind of fruit.  I think you have a sweet tooth!  Mommy always loved applesauce and still does and it's pretty clear that you do too. 

Your Mommy and Daddy have started baby proofing the house because you are into everything.  We just can't seem to stop you.  The first baby proofing that we did was put a gate at the top of the steps and it is wonderful.  You seem to go straight for the steps whenever you are down and crawling and you go full speed.

 

I don't think you've actually said your first word but you are close.  You babble up a storm. 

You are still LOVING those baths.  It seems to make you happy every night to get in there.  You used to be such a kicker and while you are still a busy boy, you are starting to sit back and just relax.  One of your favorite toys these days are the bath books, esp. Silly Frog.

It's pretty clear to Mommy that she should have taken more pictures this month.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of pictures taken on our cell phones.  Mommy and Daddy don't have any fancy cell phones though so I can't use them to put on the blog.  I'll try to do better next month.
You keep me smiling, my sweet baby!