This morning, we took Daniel in for his 9-month check-up, and all is well! Here are his current stats:
Height: 27 1/4" (11%)
Weight: 17.2 lbs (6%)
Head Circumference: 44.5" (25%)
Height to Weight Ratio: 26%
His growth has slowed down, but nothing totally horrible..he's still technically healthy. I attribute it to the fact that he's SO mobile and SO wiggly. As his Pediatrician says, he's "petite". He's got the Downer genes with his weight... we're ALL skinny-minis in my family (or, at least we WERE as kids). His shortness he gets from me, and a bit from his dad... we're both "average" height (5' 5" & 5' 10", respectively). It's ok that he's short, though; his handsomeness makes up for his lack of height! :) He didn't have to have any shots this time (YAY!), and his doctor gave him a book..though Diana was a lot more excited about it than he was.
Daniel with his new book!
Here's what's new with our little munchkin:- He has 8 teeth! 5 of them he got all at the same time, which was nice for us because we were able to avoid the crying, drooling, and poor sleep patterns 4 fewer times!
- He is able to stand on his own and loves to practice.
- He can't walk independently yet, but has no problem walking along furniture or using small objects like a push-walker or one of Diana's chairs to walk himself around the house. It's a cute sight; he looks like an old man with a walker.
- He's a BITER! He bites everything and everyone, except himself. He loves to bite and he's mean about it...it's extremely painful!
- He now loves to feed himself. He'll resist if you try to feed him. Several times he's taken the spoon out of my hand and fed himself - he's actually pretty good with a spoon!
- He's a babbler. He loves to make all sorts of noises and sounds to communicate with us and express himself. So far still, the only words he says are "Mama" and "Dada"
- He shakes his head "no" when he doesn't want something, if we sing the "My Little Pony" theme song, or if we say "No no no no no" in baby-talk to him. On occasion, I've even seen him do it when I catch him doing something he's not supposed to be doing.
- He's a snuggle-bug and LOVES to be loved on! He especially loves to give great, big, slobbery kisses.
- He LOVES his big sister, more than anyone! He's never more excited to see anyone than he is to see her. He loves to follow her around, mimic what she does, laugh at EVERYTHING she does, wrestle around with her, and shower her with an endless supply of hugs and kisses. They're already BFF's. :)
- He WAS finally sleeping through the night...for about a month. We're adjusting his nightly routine a little in the hopes of getting him back to sleeping through the night.
- He takes 2-3 naps a day, and is pretty consistent with the times he goes down and for how long each time.
- He LOVES his nightly baths. He gets so excited when we head to the bathroom each night and almost jumps out of my arms every time because he can't wait to get in the tub. If Diana is in there without him, he'll stand by the tub and watch her the entire time, even trying his best to crawl in with her some times.
- He has issues with Milk and Soy, so since we switched him over to bottles at around 6 1/2 months, he's been exclusively on the oh-so-VERY-expensive hypo formula. Luckily, we can find people selling it in bulk on Ebay, which saves us about $10-12 per can. Sadly, we still spend at least $100/month on formula. I think I'll nurse my next baby longer.
- He has some sick obsession with power cords and chargers. He seeks them out and chews on the end of them. He's destroyed 3 of my chargers already and is trying to destroy more unplugged cords. Despite our best efforts to keep cords out of his reach, he always seems to find some stray, hidden cord that we didn't even know existed. It freaks me out.
- In Mike's car, we switched him to Diana's car seat and switched Diana to a booster. He LOVES being able to see us in the car and he thinks his new seat is oh-so-comfy!
- He loves Diana's room more than any other room in the house. I have no idea why, he just does. No one has to be in there, all the lights could be off, and he'll still go in there and play. It's strange.
- He laughs at just about everything and he loves loves loves to laugh. Most of the stuff we say and do causes him to burst into infectious giggles. It's so cute!
- He's a very happy little guy, almost always full of smiles.
- He's going through his stranger-danger and separation anxiety phases. It's good fun...
- He still has the most handsome, gigantic, big brown eyes - I love them!
- His hair is getting more blonde, and he has a lot more of it at this age than Diana did.
- He likes tv, although he's not nearly as addicted to it as his sister was and is.
- He still won't take a binky, and I'm torn about it. I'm sad because I think he would sleep better at night if he had a binky to help soothe him to sleep, but I'm happy that I don't have that evil habit I have to fight with and try to break later. Diana was never super-hooked on a binky and I loved it.
- He loves bottles, so much so that he'll even try to drink out of Diana's toy baby-doll bottles.
- He's resisting using sippy cups. He'll drink out of them a little if they hold warm water, and will even drink a bit out of a normal cup (again, only if it holds WARM water), but try to get him to drink exclusively out of them and he'll turn into the most stubborn little beast you've ever seen. It's so strange to me because Diana didn't ever care what container her drinks were in, as long as she could have a drink. It's true what they say, each kid is SO different, and there really isn't anything you can do to change that!
- He's in size 9-month clothes
- He looks so much like his Daddy - which explains why he's so handsome! ;)
- He uses his & Diana's pup-tent under our stairs to "do his business". Mike and I joke that if he's in there for more than 2 minutes, he's dirtying his diaper for us. Not too surprisingly, we're right about 99% of the time.
- He LOVES that tent and plays in it more than Diana ever has. A true boy.
- He is SO musical! He LOVES music, any music. Even if you're just humming to yourself, he'll dance along. He has great rhythm, too; he usually dances on-beat, no problem.
- He loves hair, or at least he loves to pull hair. Just ask Diana. She and I are going bald from all the hair he pulls from our heads.
- He loves to "play" the piano, and one of his most-favorite toys is the toy piano he and Diana share. Another favorite of his is the kid karaoke machine Diana got for Christmas.
- He's a great, big Mama's boy, and I LOVE HIM BUNCHES!!
