9 Months Old - Tall and Skinny

Donovan turned 9 months old last weekend.  I can't believe that I have had him for 3/4 of a year now.  Crazy!

He had his appointment yesterday.  He is still 97% for height and head circumference, but has dropped to 60% in weight.  The doctor isn't concerned, since he is crawling like a fiend.  Since they start crawling at different times, the weight average doesn't move that much, but they tend to drop once movement milestones are achieved.  She expects him to catch back up.

Those little milestone charts that you need to fill out are so annoying though.  You have to stop at three no's.  But, the thing is, Donovan is not developing in order.  There was a no from last time that still wasn't a yes - it has to do with self-feeding (which he has minimal interest in doing).  So it counted against the limited number of no answers.  He had like 8 yesses after the last no, but they don't count.  Okay, so he can't feed himself using a pincer grip yet.  But he CAN cruise, get himself to sitting, babblye strings of consonnts, stand for a full minute while not holding onto anything, and say both "Mama" and "Dada" discriminately.  Let's give him credit for those :-P.

As far as everything else is going, not much new to report.  His top, front teeth are coming in, which is pretty adorable.  It's no fun for nursing, but that's a different story altogether :-P.  Otherwise, he's doing all the same things - just better, faster and more.  He crawls around like it's really no big thing.  He cruises all over the place.  He talks to "Mama" and "Dada" all the time.  He babbles, squeals, raspberries and makes all of the adorable baby sounds that I love to listen to so much.  He and Jocelyn play and giggle together - when they are not fighting over the same toys, that is :-P. They do love each other, though.  It's really awesome.

Oh, here's the big deal!  Donovan is sleeping in his own room!  Finally!  The new recommendations from the AAP are that the baby should sleep in their parents' room for the forst 6 months (in their own bed, the AAP does not promote babies sleeping in their parents' bed).  So that's what we did.  And then once we hit 6 months, we were planning to have a guest in town.  Then another.  Then another.  And since the guest room is also Donovan's room, we didn't want to move him back and forth before he got into the routine.  So we kept him with us.  But, last night he slept in his own room!  And he slept great - didn't hear him from when we put him down at about 11:30 (a late cat nap resulted in a late bedtime) until 6 a.m.!  Then he went back to sleep, but the morning sleep was in his Pack 'n' Play in our room because I didn't feel like walking all the way back to his room after I was done nursing him (so far we haven't moved the recliner into his room yet). 

As far as food goes, he eats yogurt almost daily these days.  And, of course, still loves his cheese.  He is ready for chunkier foods - and last night we shared a roasted carrot, and some banana pieces.  He also has had some experience with avocado pieces.  So we are getting there with the chunkier food.  I am such a nervous mama when it comes to choking hazards and stuff.  And, really, what's the rush?  Okay, he needs some practice so he doesn't become a super picky eater.  But I think he will be fine.  Over the next few weeks we will try some chunks of potato and sweet potato.  That should be good :-)