Nine months & stuff

Here's the wee laddie at nine months. He has now been out as long as he was in. What is Theo like at nine months old? He has four teeth all coming in at once. He sleeps from 5 PM to 6 or 7 AM without waking. He eats three containers of baby food a day and now eats baby crackers. I am considering upping his food intake and cutting down breastfeeds - but breastfeeding is so much more convenient that it's been slow going. Since he no longer wakes at night when sitters are here I am thinking maybe I only have a few more pumping sessions left in my life (for the rare occasions when a sitter puts him to bed), which fills me with joy. He is not independent and content to hang out in playpens or walkers like his brother - he hates being put down and left alone, and crawls around and stands only for a little while before wanting to be picked up...but then squirms and fusses unless you walk around with him. Our three days a week at home with no big brother are kind of miserable - I try in vain to get things done but he pretty much whines incessantly and refuses to nap for more than a few minutes. Our days here mostly involve me trying to put him down and get him to play unsuccessfully, picking him up to feed him only to have him squirm away, uninterested, sometimes giving him Tylenol thinking he must be teething and in pain, finally plunking him in his crib in an attempt at getting him to nap which pretty much always fails. Then it's time to go pick up brother. Sigh. There's just no relaxing at home with little kids. It just can't happen. 

Theo babbles, crawls, stands, and eats purees like a champ. Passed his nine month checkup with flying colors. I'm so glad I've never had to worry about underweight kids! The nurse messed up and told me he'd lost weight since his six month checkup and I immediately panicked and felt guilty about leaving him unfed all night and sometimes running around too much during the day to feed him as often as I know I should...but when the doctor came in he said we were looking at the wrong numbers and he had gained the appropriate amount of weight. Whew. He's had a runny nose and cough for ages but the doctor said his lungs and ears are clear, so...yeah.

Here is a comparison I made of Theo at one and eight months. I am shocked this is the same baby. He sure did turn out cute!