Ezra at 9 Marvelous Months

I think this has got to be one of my favorite ages. It seems that around 9 months, babies (or at least mine anyway) are suddenly more interactive, more engaging, so much fun and just plain adorable. I have such a great time playing with him, making him laugh and smile, and simply love hanging out with him! And of course it helps that he is a super smiley guy. Ezra has been busy working on so many milestones this month. He is so close to crossing them too! Somehow I didn't take many pictures this month, so I'll try and make up for that with an extra video or two.

An exciting change in our household has been the addition of our part-time nanny! Her name is Kyra (or "My-Kyra" as Caiden calls her) and she is fantastic! She is going to be a returning senior in college this year and is super passionate about kids. Both Caiden and Ezra love her, and she does such a great job with them! She comes in twice a week for a few hours on Tues and Thurs, and then every Weds night so B and I can have a regular date night. It's so great to finally have a regular sitter!

Ezra did a great job at his 9 month well baby check up! The only minor concern is his eczema. It's not too bad, but we need to treat it with some hydro-cortizone to keep it in check. Other than that, he is doing fantastically! While we were in the waiting room, a little girl was running around and very excited about "the baby" in the stroller (Ezra). Her mom and I started chatting, and she revealed that the little girl was 18 mos. She guessed Ezra was about the same age, and when I told her he was only 9 mos, her eyes widened and she exclaimed over what a big boy he is! LOL!

Here are his stats:
Weight: 20lbs, 9oz (up 2lbs even from his 6 month appt) which puts him in the 50-75%.
Height: 30in (up one inch since February) - that keeps him in the 95%!
Head: 18 inches

Now on to the highlights. I didn't do a good job "collecting" these over the month, so let's see how much I can remember.

• He is getting super close to crawling! He has been getting up on his hands and knees for the last several weeks and rocking back and forth. Recently, he pops a knee forward a little bit, but I don't think he quite realizes that he's doing it.

• Ezra's current method of getting around is "helicoptering" (to borrow a term from the Shaffers). He'll be on his belly and can do a full 360 to reach any toys in his radius. Sometimes he combines this with rolling and can cover a surprising distance!

 

• He has totally mastered sitting up and even occasionally figures out how to get to his belly from a sitting up position. Sometimes he takes a shortcut and flops on his back. :)
• There is a good chance he is working on a tooth. He has been drooling more and chewing a lot more on his thumb and pointer fingers. I don't feel anything yet, but Caiden popped his first tooth at this age, so we'll see if Ezra follows suit.
• Of course I can't resist talking about sleep, but this time it is mostly good news to report! Ezra is FINALLY consistently sleeping thru the night. I can't believe it's only been 2 weeks (feels like much longer), but it has been such a huge relief to know fairly reliably that he will stay asleep for the night. Now, some mornings he has woken abnormally early (4am) and sometimes gets himself back to sleep. Bedtime is around 6:15pm and he'll generally wake up around 6am (if all has gone well). Lately his naps have been a little off kilter in that they've been shorter than usual, but I am hoping that will resolve itself. I dislike getting up so early, but it does allow for some time in the late morning/early afternoon for Caiden, Ezra and me to get out of the house before someone needs lunch or the next nap. The one major downer with his sleep remains the issue of getting him to actually FALL asleep. He fights naps and bedtime quite a bit which still just breaks my heart some nights. The other night he took 90 minutes to finally go to bed for the night and that included 30 minutes of me trying to soothe and rock him. Even the doctor is at a loss for how to help him adjust. So I keep hoping he'll eventually grow out of it, or else we'll figure out a way to get him to happily go to sleep.
• This kid continues to eat like a horse. I swear, he's going to eat us out of house and home when he gets older. He's happy with oatmeal and applesauce at breakfast. Lunch is rye bread with an avocado & cream cheese spread, and two kinds of fruit. Dinner has been rice or noodles with chicken and veggies. And these aren't small portions either! I need to figure out some other recipes to feed him. He does also sometimes share our dinners as long as it is something that he can safely eat.
• He's been making lots of new vocalizations. Most recently he's making a "t" sound. Nothing clear just yet tho. I also thought for a little while that he was doing the sign for water. I got him to repeat the motion a few times at lunch one day, but he hasn't done it since. I keep practicing lots of signs with him tho!
• He really enjoys reading books. He likes to look at them on his own, and he'll get really excited when we sit down and read to him. I feel like I don't do as good a job reading to him as I did with Caiden, so I am trying to be more conscious of building time into our day for reading together.

 

• He's discovered he can clap toys, like his stacking cups, together and loves it! He also likes playing with his soft blocks and the little shapes that are nested inside of them.
• I'm thrilled that he still loves to cuddle and snuggle. He is super happy to sit on a lap and chew on a toy. I love spending mornings in bed with him and just snuggling. He's also got this super cute maneuver where he'll act all shy. I'll be holding him and someone will interact with him. He'll smile at them and then bury his head in my shoulder for a few seconds and then look at them and smile again. It is just the cutest thing!
  
  
  
  
• Ezra and Caiden are still getting along pretty well. Caiden likes to try and make him laugh, and Ezra adores watching Caiden do anything. A few days ago, Caiden wasn't feeling too good and getting sporadic stomach cramps. The cramps would make him cry, and one hit him while he was standing by Ezra and B. Caiden started crying, and Ezra immediately responded in kind with a huge boo boo lip and then his face crumbled into tears. I don't think I'd ever seen him react like that before! (On a side note, Caiden finally passed a big BM later that evening and felt much better, poor kid!)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We finally got some nice enough weather to spend some time outdoors in the morning and afternoon. I set Ezra up on a blanket with some toys, and he seemed to really like it! We've also taken a couple walks to go see the horses just outside of our neighborhood. We also got a great deal on a Radio Flyer two seater wagon (which Caiden ADORES) and took the boys for a couple walks in it. Ezra has also gotten to spend some time in the swing we have hanging in the garage which he really likes!

I *think* that about covers it for the month. I wish I had done a better job of keeping track throughout the month, but I seemed to have remembered a good amount of what I wanted to share. We are looking forward to seeing lots of family next weekend when Ezra and I are in town for our house hunting trip! Updated pictures of Caiden are here and pictures of Ezra are here.