At his 9 month appointment on 12/5, the doctor said Henry looked perfect! His stats were:
Weight: Almost 19 lbs (40%)
Height: 26.5 inches (60%)
Head Circumference: (70%)
Eating: He is eating baby food so much better now. I would say it took him a good 2-3 months to warm up to it. I do about half and half on the store bought food and the homemade food....basically I make what is easiest (bananas, sweet potatoes, stuff like that) and buy the rest. Textures are still tricky, and he much prefers the smoothest of foods (even though he has 6 teeth-4 on top, 2 on bottom). He also much prefers fruit to veggies, but I can get him to eat most smooth baby food veggies if I mask it with a fruit. Banana is a tried and true one: sweet and smooth. He eats it without fail. Thank you, bananas!
He still nurses about every 3-4 hours...6:30, 9:30, 1:00ish, 4:00ish, and 7:00ish, so 5 times a day. I know this will be reduced soon as we add in a lunch time baby food meal, but right now he is just eating cereal with fruit around 8:30am and a veggie (usually masked by a little fruit) at around 5:30pm. He also eats mum-mums, wheels, rice cups, and puffs. He does the best with the rice based stuff, but tries to eat it all. He does not seem to particularly love these, but I figure he should practice with some self-feeding! We tried yogurt melts, and he made the most awful face every time....maybe we will re-visit those again soon. :)
Sleeping: He takes 2 good naps a day...around 9:30 and 2:30 or 3:30ish and sleeps give or take a couple of hours at each nap. He tends to sleep longer in the morning and will sometimes sleep for 3 hours then. As a good rule of thumb, he is awake for 3 hours and then is ready to sleep again. He is laid down for the night by 7:30 and goes to sleep on his own. He sleeps solid through the night and wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00. He wakes up so sweet and smiley, and I love to cuddle with him when he wakes up.
Playing: Henry is so playful now. He loves peek-a-boo, where's Henry, gonna getcha, being tickled, and "riding" on my knee to "this is the way the lady rides". He also loves when we ask, "How big is Henry?" then raise his arms up in the air and say, "So big!" He grins and grins...I know soon he will be raising his arms without our help. Very cute. He is so curious and loves things that are off limits (how do babies know??)...shoes, outlets, cell phones, remote controls, cords....these are what he covets in the midst of all of his age appropriate, clean toys that surround him. Oh well! I can't really blame him. He also loves to pull things out of bags and baskets and gets a kick out of messing up paper...my school bag is the jackpot!
He started waving bye-bye a few weeks ago and it is so cute. He continues to be quite verbal and talkative. We love it when he does his whisper talking....he also breathes out of his mouth a lot and it entertains us. He makes lots of noises, and mamama and dadada are among them, but I don't think he officially knows that those words go for us or anything. He is squealy and yells a lot, too. He is always clicking his tongue or humming....
He has become a little bit of a mamma's boy (which I don't like at ALL:))...and reaches for me, crawls after me, and gives me the sweetest smiles. He also gives great hugs these days-both arms around my neck and a big squeeze. He will then pull away, look at me, and do it again with a squeal. It is the sweetest thing. He reserves his "kisses" mainly for me and opens his mouth and puts it on my cheek. If he weren't my kid I would think it was gross, but I know he is showing love:) We did not teach him this-he just started it on his own! He also still leans his head on my shoulder when strangers are talking to him a lot of times, and he gives them a big shy grin. He is super friendly to everyone and a lot of times I will catch him and some stranger smiling and communicating back and forth if I am at the grocery or in line somewhere. He is quite nosy and when we are out he is checking out everyone around him and trying to figure them out by watching whatever they are doing. Oh, he also is doing great in my school nursery and is always happy there. All the moms love him and brag about what a sweetie he is and how good of a sleeper he is. They also talk about how cuddly he is:) Evidently he is not stingy with his snuggles! Church nursery is a bit more of a struggle. It is always bad timing with him being sleepy when we are about to drop him off, so then he is unhappy while there. I think this will just be difficult for a bit, but we are going to keep trying.
I would say his #1 favorite activity is bath time. He will play in the tub for forever if we let him. He feels invincible in there for some reason...he reaches for everything, grabs the side of the tub and stands up, then plops back down into the water over and over. He loves bath toys and also loves to splash and scream. He slaps at the water and it goes everywhere...makes quite the mess, but he is having too much fun to try and stop him. :) He also still loves Maggie and grabs at her all the time. She's a good sport. Henry loves to sit and play with spatulas and wooden spoons in the kitchen and he also loves plastic hangers for whatever reason! When he is in the zone, he sits and "grooves"-head bobbing up and down, legs kicking, and and talking away. The end of this month I finally feel like Henry is truly more interested in books and will sit in my lap and look at the pictures and listen to me read. He will sit through several books, and I love this time with him and look forward to more of it in the future now that will put his attention on books.
Overall, Henry is very laid back and has a happy disposition. He still does not like to get his clothes changed and if he is tired he does not like his diaper to be changed, either. If there is something he has that he shouldn't (ie-a cord or remote control or something) that gets taken away, he let's us know he is unhappy by crying or at least fussing a bit.
Happy 9 months, Hankford. Dada and I love you so much. We think you are pretty special
