Catching UP again!

Now that he's 9 months old and I have neglected this blog for months & months let me back track a little.

First - AJ walks!! His steps are tentative but he has moved on from cruising along the furniture, then cautiously letting go of the couch, step, then to the chair. Last weekend he took6 steps alone from me to the vacuum. He has even stood next to the wall & then started walking into an open room with nothing to hold onto within several feet.

Second - he has 4 teeth. They all erupted between Dec 30th and the end of January. Nothing since then.

Third - He has finally figured out a sippy cup. It's taken multiple brands and some bottles for him to learn how to get liquid out, but it finally happened! Now I can leave him with a babysitter or in church nursery without worrying about him being thirsty.

Fourth - his personality is coming out. He is still more mellow than Will but he is certainly showing some indignation, some independence, some frustration and of course lots of love. He adores David and Will. Nina and I are okay companions too. Nina gives kisses every chance she gets (still.) Mommy is the source of food and comfort so I'm definitely a favorite. But Daddy & Will - wow. They are the best toys ever!!

Fifth - he had his 6 month well-baby check up in early January, I have to dig up his stats.
Height: 26"- 80th percentile
Weight: 16 lbs - 50th percentile
Head Circ: 16.75" - 50th+ percentile
Everything is growing steadily and in proportion! He was in the office for lung sounds a few weeks ago & he was over 18 lbs. If he's like the older kids, he'll hover around 20 lbs because he'll walk & stop nursing sometime before 12 mo.

Nursing - he continues to nurse 3-4x during the day, 1-2x at night. I didn't want to cut out night sessions because he wasn't really taking to solids. But I actually got something I had hoped for: a child that skips the pureed baby food and goes straight to table food. AJ doesn't like to be fed with a spoon. Put a glob of applesauce straight on his tray and he's good to go! He also likes rice cakes, Gerber Puffs, baby raviolis, cold noodles and most anything I'm making for dinner, especially chicken.

Just discovered the link from xanga to this page is broken so I'll fix that later today and I will post pictures later today as well.