9 months old

Doesn't that sound so old? 9 months is 3/4 of a year, and he's now spent as much time in the outside world as he did in Mommy's belly. This is a pretty big milestone, as far as I'm concerned. Jacob could probably not care less. He is a boy on the go, and will hardly sit still long enough to get a diaper change anymore. Any time he's on the floor, he wants to crawl. More specifically, he wants to crawl to the most dangerous spot in the room. If there is an uncovered electrical socket, he makes a beeline for it. If we don't have the gate up at the bottom of the stairs, he climbs them immediately. (He is actually getting very good at climbing stairs, when he is well supervised by an adult.) He loves to stand, and is really good at pulling himself up. He can walk along furniture, and has also figured out how to safely get back down on the floor from standing up. We think it's only a matter of time before he gets brave enough to try walking. He seems very determined.

He visited the doctor last week for his 9 month check-up, and all went well. He weighed in at just under 20 lbs., which was a bit of a surprise. We think he must be burning a lot of extra calories with all of his moving around, so he hasn't gained as much weight as he did in the past.

The good news is that he can eat many different foods, so we can bulk up his diet a bit and maybe get in a couple of snacks. He is still tall for his age, and according to the standardized skill chart that the doctor has, he is developmentally and socially at a 10+ month level. Those charts obviously don't take sleep into consideration! He has been going backwards with sleep again lately, waking up 5 or more times in 10 hours. On the positive side, he seems to have settled into a regular bedtime of around 10pm, and a regular waking time of around 8am. Just a few months ago, I was having troubles getting him to bed before midnight, so we're making some progress! They say that babies wake a lot when they are learning new skills. Maybe that's part of it, and teething is probably contributing as well. He has 6 teeth now (3 on top and bottom), and 2 more are getting close. I've been watching them for a couple of weeks, but they are taking their time coming in. I think Jacob would like a break from new teeth for a little while.

I'm currently working on his 6-9 month slideshow. Hopefully I can get the pictures uploaded soon and get it looking the way I want. Keep an eye on the slideshow section at the left, as there will be a new addition soon! I'm also going to keep trying to add more video clips. He's doing so many cute things these days!