His Plan, Not Ours: Owen is nine months old!

I'm nine months old!

At nine months old, Owen was:

Weight: 19 pounds, 12 ounces, between the 25th and 50^th percentile

Length: 27.5 inches long, 25^th percentile (I'm not so sure about this measurement though because we measured him last month and he was this long and the way the nurse does it at the doctor's office doesn't make a lot of sense.)

Dr. Lawrence was very pleased with Owen's development and said that he couldn't ask for more right now. Owen also had to get a shot that we postponed from his last visit because he got a flu shot then. He advised us not to pick Owen up if he wakes in the middle of the night. We haven't had a chance to test that out yet because Owen slept through the night last night, but I'm not looking forward to it in the future.

Eating:

Owen is still drinking five or six ounces of breastmilk or formula at each feeding. He eats every three hours until his last feeding in the evening. He eats a meal of pureed fruits or vegetables or rice cereal two times a day, in the morning and in the evening. He still enjoys apples, pears, peas, and sweet potatoes. This month he has tried mashed potatoes mixed with peas and yogurt, both of which he likes. His new not-favorites are green beans, cooked egg yolk, and yellow squash. We still try to give him finger foods, but for the most part he doesn’t like to eat anything other than Gerber Puffs or Cheerios. He is a pro at the pincer grasp (picking up food with his thumb and index finger.)

Sleeping:

Owen has been sleeping through the night minus the times when he has a tooth coming through. When he is teething, he wakes up anywhere between 1-3 times in the night. We still swaddle him when we put him to sleep, but he breaks out of it during the night or even as he is falling to sleep. Many times we put him in his crib when he is drowsy and we play the bedtime music on a stuffed animal that he has and he falls asleep before the ten minutes of music are up. Other times, we rock him to sleep. He naps twice a day now for anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours. I generally just put him in his crib when he starts to get cranky and turn on his stuffed animal and he falls asleep on his own.

Other Things I Want to Remember:

Owen is wearing nine month and size 6-12 month clothing. He wears size 3 shoes. He wears size 3 diapers. Owen’s hair is getting thicker and darker. It’s getting pretty long around his ears and he has little “wings” over his ears. His eyes are turning brown I think. People compliment his eyes all the time.

Owen started crawling on his hands and knees unexpectedly on Christmas Day. He had been worming across the floor for about a month and a half, but now he will crawl the regular way. He will sometimes revert back to his old method of crawling if he is trying to get to something quickly because he can move faster that way.

Owen pulled up on a box earlier this month and had lots of practice pulling up on both sets of grandparents’ coffee tables while we were home for Christmas. He does this constantly now, but has not started cruising, which is when a baby walks down the side of a piece of furniture using it for balance.

Owen started clapping this month. The interesting thing is that he can clap in response to the word "clap," and not just when we clap. It's very cute. He also likes to take our hands and make us clap. We are still working on waving and high-fiving.

Owen babbles a lot more now. He is still experimenting with the different noises he can make. He frequently blows raspberries, especially if he is upset or cranky. He typically repeats his different consonant sounds and can now say “ba,” “puh,” “da,” and “ca.” This month while in Georgia he started saying “puh” in response to seeing dogs (puppies).

Owen has really enjoyed playing with his activity table and his Poppity Pop Musical Dino toy. He loves a toy cell phone that he got from his Nana and Papa. I generally reserve it for the car and the grocery store.

His favorite book is “Dear Zoo.” He loves to lift the flaps of the book and is getting really good at manipulating the folds of paper gently. Other than that, he really enjoys pretty much any book with animals in it.

Owen’s second of his top two teeth came in this past month. He looks so cute. We think he may have a gap between his top two teeth.
Owen and I have been having playdates with some friends from my mom's group. He is about three months younger than his friends Hayden and Rowan and about four months older than his friend Ethan. It's been really great to hang out with some other mom's and Owen enjoys playing with all his friends' toys. Because they are infinitely cooler than any of his toys.