9 Months Old

This post is coming to you a tad late, but really no big deal. People ask me how much Gavin weighs on the daily, and I usually respond with "around 25 lbs, I think." I suppose I could hop on the scale with him and do the math, but I'm not sure if that's accurate, and I'm also not sure how much I really care. I do know that most of his clothes are for 12-18 months, so maybe he's slowed in his growth a little. We'll find out soon, as his 9-month well check-up is next week!

At 9 months, Gavin is army crawling like a champ and crawling for real like an amateur. The army crawl is a very fast mode of transportation. It works for him, and he's not very motivated to get on his knees, though he'll do it frequently, and then drop to his belly after a short while. His appetite remains hearty, but he has some "off" days, like today, where I can hardly get him to eat any solid food. He prefers finger foods over being spoon-fed, and like most babies, Puffs are his favorite. They're not very nutritious, but they keep him occupied and happy...so there you have it.

Won't sit still for a photo with his teddy bear. No surprise there.

I'd rather not smile, thank you.

The bug on the ground is so much more interesting than the camera.

Gavin has been sporting his two bottom teeth for quite some time, and then all at once, all four top teeth popped through. He loves gnawing on his things. Including me. Ouch. But his very, very favorite thing is to point at the tiniest little thing he can find and then pinch it to pick it up. This means a lot of very little scraps of trash that I didn't realize were on the floor end up in his mouth. He also loves watching a video on YouTube that features green tractors and a country song. I know that screen time is bad for babies, but parental insanity is worse, and YouTube comes to my rescue two or three times a day.

His hair is so long, and his dad threatened a haircut for a very long time. But then we went to Oregon, where said haircut was set to occur, and everyone forgot about it except for me. I did not take the opportunity to provide any reminders. I like Gavin's hair for now. It's cute.

He is still quite the handful but a much happier baby now that he is mobile and able to stir up trouble. He naps about 90% better in the last few weeks than ever before. We are still having trouble finding a strict daytime schedule, and he wakes in the morning much earlier than we'd like, but things could be so much worse. The afternoons after coming home from work are the most challenging. He is cranky and I am incapable of appeasing him. He's not very generous with his laughs and smiles, but when I can catch one, it's the best thing I see all day long. He is generous with his screams, but it seems he's been getting over that in the last few days. Let's hope so anyway because man is he LOUD. Just like his dad.

That's our Gavin James for you. The biggest challenge, and yet the biggest light, of my life.