Nine Month Well Baby

Ryan is officially rocking on all fours. He has been for about a week now and, if his sister’s progress is any indication, we have about two more weeks before he’s full on crawling. He’s much more aggressive with his attempts, throwing his arms out trying to move forward even though he falls each and every time. He’s also much more frustrated by his inability to get up and go, which is evidenced by the amount SCREAMING happening in our house.

Reese is cruising the furniture, standing while only holding on (to us and other objects) with one hand and walking behind her dinosaur with ease. I think she’ll be walking unassisted by ten months. Which blows my mind.

Ryan is up to four teeth and is working on number five. Reese is still stuck at two teeth, but her top two are close to the surface.

Both babies have mastered the pincer grasp and are skilled in the art of single blueberry pick up and eating 🙂 They are able to put their toys away in boxes and buckets, but much prefer to take them out and shake them all over the place.

Both babies are learning to wave, although Ryan uses both hands. Which is kind of funny. It looks less “hello” and more “jazz hands”. I’ll take it.

Reese is trouble on two legs, pulling, standing, climbing and exploring the world around her. She is more focused and has recently become quite shy. If I want her to clam up, the easiest way to do so is to put a camera or a stranger in front of her. Whereas Ryan, who used to be my bashful baby, has become extremely social. His personality really emerges when he’s around new people and in new settings.

My goal was to do away with purees by ten months, and as of this month we are officially on table foods. The kids don’t want anyone else feeding them. They still let me give them cereal and yogurt in the morning. But only after they’ve had ten minutes to feed themselves berries and fruit. Ryan is a picky eater and will reject a food based on color or texture alone. We call Reese “Mikey” because she’ll pretty much eat anything you give her.

We missed the arbitrary milestone of waving and playing patty cake, but both babies can give you a kiss on the lips if you ask for one and both can hug you if you say “give me a huggie”. I guess in our house kisses and hugs are more important than hello and goodbye. (Or maybe I just never leave my kids, ever, so I never thought to teach them such things as I’m leaving and I’m back, ha!)

Reese said her first word a few weeks ago (it was mama, love her) and continues to babble regularly. Ryan mostly grunts and squeals. I’m thinking he may go to high school sounding like Forrest Gump. They love to get millimeters away from one another and scream as loud as possible and then break out into laughter. Our house is loud beyond loud.

I thought eight months was really hard, there was a lack of mobility mixed with a lot of frustration and a dash of inability to communicate. Now that the babies can point, move toward an object they want/need and are generally a lot less frustrated life has gotten easier on the ears (and patience). I’m really looking forward to these last few months before they turn one. Their development is crazy right now and I’m amazed that my babies are becoming little people.

People say you can see a baby’s personality emerge in this first year, but I’m not sure I agree. I think I’m just getting glimpses of what they’ll be like as people. But I’m on the cusp of really seeing them and knowing them. And that’s so exciting.