Grayson's 9th Month

Nine months!  I do not know how you are already nine months old!  You have been out in the world longer than you were in the womb.  These nine months have definitely gone faster than those first nine months.  I really have to get on the ball and start planning your first birthday celebration.  You are starting to move now doing the army belly crawl and will get up into a full crawl position and make some good forward motions to try to reach a toy you want.  Once you figure out how much faster you can move on your knees, nothing will stop you.  You love to grab for things you want and that has resulted in a few accidents at the dinner table when we underestimate how long your arms can reach.  Haha!  

Size:  We went to your nine month well-check on September 6th, and you weighed 18 lbs. 5 .2 oz. which is just a little more than big brother Mattox weighed.  You were 30 inches long putting you above the 90th percentile there so you are definitely a tall boy right now.  You were 1 and 3/4 inches longer than both big brothers Brody and Mattox.  You have still been wearing size 3 diapers and mostly 9 to 12 month clothes.  

Developmental Accomplishments:  You are starting to army crawling more, and you just have to figure out that you can crawl much more efficiently on your knees than your belly.   You can also stand holding onto furniture for a good little while when we stand you up.  You haven't pulled up fully by yourself yet.  You still love your big brothers and laugh and "talk" a lot now.   You mostly say "mamamama" a lot.  You grasp and bang your toys together, and you taught yourself to clap at the end of this month!  Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety has really been increasing too.  It took you a little while to warm up to Grandma when she visited us this month.  You hate being left alone in a room and will try to crawl after me.   

Sleeping:  You have been sleeping in your crib in your room, but your increased separation anxiety has meant you wake up more at night wanting to be held or rocked or to get more milk.  Daddy has trouble getting you to stay asleep when he lays you down, and you will often wake up and start screaming again.  When you do finally go down for the night, you often wet out of your diaper because you like to turn yourself onto your tummy to sleep.   

Eating:  You have still been doing well eating, and we are still chugging away at breast feeding which I am thankful for.  You still refuse to take a bottle so you get about four to five breast feedings a day.   You still really love eating solids and have really been doing well with every food you have tried.  You eat more mixed combination meals with a fruit and oatmeal or yogurt combination for breakfast, a vegetable combination for lunch, and a meat and vegetable combination for dinner.  You have now tried avocados, peas, squash, apples, pears, bananas, sweet potatoes, peaches, green beans, broccoli, white potatoes, and mangoes.   You like white potatoes mixed with a green vegetable like peas, green beans, or broccoli.  You eat a chicken puree mixed with an orange vegetable like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, or carrots. You also love pieces of whole fruit like cantaloupe or watermelon in your little mesh feeder.  

Teeth:  You finally got your two top teeth for a total of four teeth with two on the bottom and two on the top. 

Nicknames:  Grayson Payson (goes with Evan Pevin, Brody Pody, Mattox Pattox), Gray Pay, Gray Gray, Baby Goo (because he is just a little gooey sweet mess)

{More pictures coming soon}