Whit at 9 months

Whit became almost unrecognizable this month!

I took him in for a sick visit at 8 months because of concern over his (lack of) weight gain, and the pediatrician encouraged us to increase his meals from 2 to 4 a day. That suggestion has made a huge difference for us! I don't get out of the house with Whit very much because he is only awake for 1-1.5 hours between naps and we need about 30 mins. to feed him a meal and around 20 mins for a full nursing session before he goes to sleep. That doesn't leave much time for playing, but Whit is much happier when he's awake and goes to sleep much faster! So far he has gained 11 ounces, which is a huge improvement from the measly 8 oz. he'd gained in the previous 4 months!

 In addition to a fuller face and slightly chunkier body he has also started to crawl, stand up, and climb, and use his fingers to feed himself all in about 2 weeks. It feels like he went from "Baby" to "Pre-Toddler" in a very short time!

Whit @ 9 months
15 lbs. 11 oz: 2%
28 in.: 35%

*Understands sign language, but not repeating any. He gets really excited when we sign "Pick Up" and usually stops fussing for food when we sign "More", "Milk", or "Finished." I wish he was ready to do sign language, but I'm glad he at least understands some!
*Is Crawling!
*Can Pull himself to a standing position! And balance with one hand away, twist around, and step his feet.
*Can climb up stairs!
*Has 6 teeth, and LOVES to use them. He puts everything into his mouth and tugs on it! This has become a slight problem when eating because he will bite off the end of hard breadsticks and accidentally start to gag on it :( But he is really good at gagging, at least! There are little bite marks all over his crib slats, too.
*Eats 3 meals and 1 snack a day and LOVES to eat. I make all of his food, but he also gets bits of anything we are eating. This means we can FINALLY eat dinner as a family in peace!
*Can use his fingers and thumb to pick up cheerios and other small foods and get them in his mouth every time! He has become a very quick eater :)

 *His hair is getting long and stringy. It sticks up in the back and parts to the side. He looks so grown up!
*Still loves his music table, but will go for an adult item over a toy any day. His favorites are my phone, camera, other electornics, cords, and basically anything else he shouldn't be playing with. We try to interest him in toys, especially toys that move, but he couldn't care less!
*Puts his head on my shoulder when he's sleepy and ends up giving me "love bites". I love it!

These photos haven't been edited. His eyes are such a solid blue that they are almost lavender! 

Things are really changing around here now that Whit is mobile. Luckily we don't have much to babyproof around the house, but he does seem to find the one cord corner pretty frequently, or get stuck under the dining room table! He still has clingy moments and will follow us as we move around the house, but he is also much happier to play by himself because he can scatter to new areas when he gets bored. We have so much fun together! He loves going for walks and playing at the playground, but we are starting to realize how much trouble this in-between stage can be, too. We can't just set him down if we need to run and grab something- he doesn't sit still anymore! This makes it a little harder to take him on adventures, but luckily as he gets older he becomes more and more interested in the world around him.

Standing up and stepping his feet:

Climbing stairs at our playground:

Ben was home for lunch during a portion of our photo shoot so he got some cute pictures of us when Whit was getting sleepy. I'm so glad! Such a rare moment caught on camera!

I was pretty outspoken about wanting my baby to remain a baby for as long as possible, but it's true that each new phase is better than the last. We have so much fun with him now! I am actually looking forward to all the things we will be able to do together when is a true-blue walker!

But I hope he always lays his head on my shoulder when he's sleepy :)