The Pen

With Abby's jealousy on the rise and Emerson trying to pull everything onto his baby head or fall down the stairs, I thought I'd bring the play yard out to contain him so I can make dinner these days.

"Mommy, mommy!  I want to go in the cave too".
"Abby, you never wanted to go in there when you were a baby.  That's for babies to stay safe".
"Please. I love you. I want to share with Emerson.  I want to play with him".

So they did.

And then she bit his foot and left a mark.

9 months

He's got 2 teeth!  This is the only picture I have of them.  They are razor sharp.  Abby is very interested in them and is often letting him bite her finger.  She didn't believe me that babies didn't have teeth until he got his first one and now it is very intriguing to her.

He's practicing a whole lot of this:

 And this:

And this.

He still army crawls most of the time but has been working on getting that belly off the ground.  He is starting to wave and he has become really social like his sister was as a baby.

He says book and ba-ba.  He has said mama maybe twice but says da-da and even picked up a picture of Tim yesterday and said Da Da.  He consistently says Ba-Ba when he sees a bottle.  Usually he just roars and growls because that gets the most laughs.  I was worried about how he is "slower" than Abby at crawling and climbing but he seems a lot more verbal than she was.

His favorite foods right now are everything you give him.  He's had chicken, broccoli, yogurt, cheddar cheese, pork, cherries, nectarine, parsnips and toast this month.  He's transitioning over to formula a lot easier than his mama.  I'm having a real hard time letting the nursing part of his life end.  With Abby I had no guilt and just stopped at 8 months.  It just feels so permanent this time.

We've started reading to him before bed and he loves it.  Every time you turn the page he giggles.  His favorite toys are all Abby's - her musical instruments and her Little People princesses and zoo animals are played with most often.  His favorite game is peek a bo or monster (he's the monster and we run to the couch to be safe).  This great game keeps Abby from hitting, pushing or kicking him for about 30 minutes a day.

He takes two great naps 1-2.5 hrs each and sleeps consistently through the night now.  He goes to bed 630-7:00 which is difficult at times because my family starts all events real late and he does not like to be off his routine.  We say no to more events now and it feels good.  He wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 am.  Not great for his Mommy and Daddy that are not morning people.  But it sure makes Abby happy to have an early bird buddy.

Look how long he is! 

His official 9 month old statistics were height 29.5 inches (little over the 85% ile), weight 18# 11 oz (holding strong at the 35th %ile).  Dr Cornell says he's going to be " a real string bean".  No shots and no concerns this visit.  Abby stayed with some friends so it was a nice relaxed appointment where I remembered ALL my questions and got all the answers.  It was fantastic!  And yes he is wearing sweatpants in July, and I'm loving it.

Surprise

During the cold, rainy spring Tim thought it would be fun to start having a family movie night on Sundays.  We don't do it every Sunday but probably twice a month.  Abby loves it.  We make popcorn and have watched Aristrocats, Little Mermaid, Cinderella, The Muppet Movie, The Lorax and Dumbo.  Our last movie was a Care Bear Movie from my childhood.  I loved the Care Bears and still have some.  Abby was really into the movie and the Care Bears which made me extremely happy.  So when she came home from Grandma's she found this:

She said "You give it to me, mama". And smiled from ear to ear.  Then she gave each one a hug and a kiss and grabbed them and ran downstairs to show her daddy.  She even snuggled Bedtime Bear all night long.  Another generation of Care Bear love.

Book

I know you're not going to believe me but this little guy said his first word. A real word!!

Yesterday Abby had a special day with her Grandma so Emerson and I got to hang out ALONE all day.  He was in heaven.  Smiling and laughing for no reason, practicing crawling and standing up.  He explored the whole house.  It was amazing to watch how different he was without her around.

At one point he was looking at a book and I swore I heard him say book.  But come on that is ridiculous!  So I said "that's right Emerson, that's a book".  Then again I though he said it.  After his nap the same thing happened again so I was so excited to tell Tim and he laughed as any normal adult size person would do at such a story.

But then it was bathtub and Tim kept saying to Emerson "Book".   Emerson would laugh and laugh and eventually say "Boo  K".  Amazing!!

Evidence

Every night when I go to bed I notice something different from the morning.  Tonight it's two framed pictures in a different location and my ear plugs nestled neatly in their holder.  Sometimes it's a book from Emerson's room.  Sometimes it's Dumbo or one of the baby bears.  Maybe it's a pacifier or Cinderella underwear.  It doesn't matter what it is.  It makes me smile and helps me fall asleep.  It's evidence that my little girl was here.

Emerson's first "swim"

Emerson's first swim, reminded me of Abby's first swim.

Wouldn't you be afraid of this little monster too?

Dinner Conversation

A script of typical dinner conversation these days.

A: Dad, It's not my birthday.
Tim: No. It's not.
A: Is it your birthday?
T: Yes.
A (giggles): NO, it's not your birthday yet.  It's not Emerson's birthday.
Me: That's right.
A: It's not your birthday Mom.
Me: No it's not.
A: Kai's 10. It's not Kai's birthday.
T: How old is Abby?
A: I'm threes (holding up 2-4 fingers).
A: It's not Grandma's birthday, right Dad?
T: Right?
A: It's not Lola's birthday.

*And on and on and on until she runs out of people she knows.  The most frequently mentioned people are Emerson, Daddy, Mama, Grandma, "Aunt" Jeremy, Kai, Lola, Reiland and sometimes Jay or Eli.