9 Months

I warned you that I was going to be a bit post happy to try to keep up with things. These updates on my kids are more for my own record-keeping than anything else, so feel free to move on.

William has hit his reflexive birthday--same amount of time out of the womb as in. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly babies grow and change. Here is a developmental rundown of Will:

Motor skills: He has mastered the "claw" and the "pincer grasp." Everything he picks up goes straight to the mouth for analysis. He crawls all over the place, pulls himself up to standing, has stood up from the ground (with no object to help him) a few times, cruises on furniture, kneels, signs (more in the language section), and walks holding onto fingers or walking toys.

Verbal skills: He definitely knows what he means when he says things now. He says: mama, dada, nana (eliana), dah (dog), tah (cat), nuh (nurse or bottle), ha-ah (hi. imagine adults saying, "hi-i" in a sing-songy way. That's the inflection he uses with his "hah" sound), muh (more). He signs: dog, light, all done, hi/bye-bye, milk (sort of. it's still a work in progress). He is so pleased when he communicates. The other day Darryl was changing his diaper with the light off. Will was signing "light" over and over again. I saw him and turned on the light. He giggled and gave me a big smile. Also, the other day I was changing his diaper (mainly wrestling with him, trying to get the diaper on), and had to keep rolling him back over so I could finish the job. After the fourth time of him rolling over and me rolling him back, he looked at me and signed "all done." :)

Teeth: His left front tooth finally broke through on the 23rd of December. He no longer has fangs; he is now a snaggle-tooth. This brings the tooth total to five.

Height/weight: above average for both. I have no idea what he weighs or measures, due to an insurance fiasco that deserves its own post. I have to wait until sometime in January when the issue is resolved. Grrrrr. I guess I do have some idea. He weighs about 20 lbs and seems to be longer than most of the babies I know that are his same age. I'll post the results when I know them. I'll also post pictures soon. I'm taking advantage of both kids being asleep at the same time to write this.

Other noteworthy traits: It is now nearly impossible to do two things--change his diaper and give him a bath. I'd post video footage, but it takes two of us to keep him from drowning himself. He looks like he wants to compete in an Olympic sprint. It's crazy. So if he's stinky, you know why. :)

William is so much fun. We love having him around.