Nine Months!

This month went by super fast with the move and unpacking and the flu and trying to find our way around town. Somehow Porter is 9 months old now. I remember thinking that 9 months was my favorite stage with Paxton and I'm thinking it is a pretty excellent stage. Porter is much happier now. I think it has a lot to do with how much he's eating now. This kid is king of solids. 

He is still nursing four or five times a day but now he is hitting the solids hard. He usually has a banana and some oatmeal for breakfast, puffs or Cheerios for a snack, a solid and some crackers for lunch, more puffs in the afternoon and maybe a yogurt and then he eats what we eat for dinner. He hasn't tried a food he hasn't loved. He shoves everything into his mouth with reckless abandon. Most nights at dinner, he eats more than Paxton does. 

He still isn't crawling even though he spends at least 60% of his floor time in the crawling position. He has invented his own little method for getting around. He usually starts sitting up, then lunges towards what he wants in the crawling position. Then he sits back up, readjusts and lunges again. I don't know why we make babies that don't crawl. He seems really interested in pulling up and he can stand really well barely holding on. 

He has been really social the last few weeks. He likes to click his tongue, fake cough, say "baba" and "mama" (usually only when he's whining but that's fine with me!), and squeal. 

His favorite games are giving big open-mouthed kisses and putting his hand in my mouth and having me pretend to eat it. He loves tickling his hand on Jared's beard. 

He loves bathtime and feels like the tub is a level playing field to snatch toys away from Paxton. His Fisher Price car Gramsy's gave him for Christmas is his favorite toy right now. 

He mastered clapping a few days ago and is really proud of himself when he remembers how to do it. Sometimes he gets confused and just slaps the floor with one hand which is pretty adorable. He can also wave but that isn't new this month...I can't remember when he started but it has been awhile...

We haven't had his 9 month check-up yet so I'm not sure how big he is, but he seems little to me. He's in 9 month clothes and he can still wear little 3 month socks. He has four teeth but the next two on top are already poking through. 

His nap schedule is kind of a disaster...we just put him down when he seems fussy and he usually goes to sleep. He doesn't really have a schedule or even a set number of naps he takes a day. Some days he takes two long naps and some days he takes four short naps...or anything in between. He usually sleeps from about 8:00 at night to 6:45 in the morning, eats and goes back to sleep until about 9:00. 

He's really tough. Paxton knocks him over (usually on accident) a couple times a week and he just rolls over and keeps playing. 

He is still the snuggliest baby. He buries his head in my chest when I hold him and just stays so still. He loves being held and prefers to just sit in my lap instead of being on the floor. In this respect he is the complete opposite of Pax as a baby. When he first wakes up, he needs to just be held and carried around for awhile before he's ready to get down to play. When he gets upset, I pat his back and he always pats mine back. 

I'm trying to soak up every minute with my baby because I know before I know it he will be toding and then running around, racing cars with Paxton and not wanting his mom slowing him down.