Nine Months Old

Today Blanden celebrates his nine-month birthday. Amazing!

On Monday he went in for a well-baby checkup (and one vaccine in the long line of infant and childhood vaccines, although this one was so quick he didn't even cry). He measures 29.25 inches long -- he has gained 10 inches since birth! That also means he is just about to outgrow his infant car seat, which only goes up to 30 inches. He is in the 85th percentile for height.


He weighs 18 lbs., 12 oz., which only puts him in the 25th percentile for weight. However, his doctor assures us he is doing just fine and she isn't the least bit worried, especially considering he was sick last month, and his weight gain may just be evening out a bit.


In the past month or so, but especially in the past couple weeks, Blanden has made great progress with solid food. He loves fruit, just about all kinds and combinations that he's tried so far (apples, apricots, mangoes, strawberries, pears, plums, and prunes); likes oatmeal mixed with fruit; likes turkey and chicken (both pureed and in little chunks he can feed to himself); likes Cheerios, Gerber's puffs, whole wheat toast and bagel bits and rice cakes and biter biscuits; but sweet potatoes are still about the only veggie he likes (unless it is disguised with something else). In the past couple days, with the okay from his pediatrician to go ahead and try dairy products, we've discovered that he likes scrambled egg yolk and is curiously exploring YoBaby yogurt, and tonight he ate up several bites of bison meatloaf! He is now eagerly eating three meals of solids a day and the resistant, I'm-not-even-close-to-being-ready-for-this attitude is long gone. We'll see what he weighs next month!

Meanwhile Ella has a new permanent station, directly beneath his booster seat, while Belle waits a little off to the side knowing that we will toss her a Cheerio every now and then too just to keep things fair.

Blanden enjoys reading lift-the-flap and touch-and-feel books, and last week, while playing on the floor, he realized that if he throws a toy or one slips out of reach -- but of course throwing it is much more fun -- he can make his way toward it by rolling (with some haphazard zoning in here and there along the way). He played this game with himself for a long time one evening, with me standing by to quickly reroute his path when he came too near the many obstacles in our living room. He reminded me a lot of Belle when she throws her ball for herself. :)

We'll try to get back to posting pictures more frequently soon.