February 15, 2009: 9 months: Frustration is the word.
Sizewise the chunky guy has finally slowed down and I'm glad. He weighed 19lbs 7 oz (8.8 kg) and measured 29 1/4" (74.5 cm) at his appointment. He is doing wonderful in every way, I can't really complain. I nightweaned him about around 8 months, which resulted in a week of hellish nights. He woke up at his usual 2-hour-intervals and I'd pick him up, but did not offer to nurse, which made him very upset. After that inital week, he started sleeping 6-8 hours at a time, but still reserving one waking (around 4 am usual) for a 1-2 hour screamfest. This has just stopped a few days ago and as of now we are enjoying our first full nights of sleep... unless another kid wakes up of course. All in all it went as expected, and I'm glad he cooperated.
We also started feeding him foods we eat and he loves it. Generally he is a very enthusiastic eater. He hasn't figured out how to crawl, but manages to move in a radius of about 1-2 meters. This is how it typically goes (You can see a video clip of this on the links page, under Video in January 2009):
Step 1: While sitting, try to grab toy
Step 2: Stretch out to grab it, land on belly
Step 3: Try to get on all fours while pushing yourself backwards
Step 4: Assume push-up position for a few seconds.
Step 5: Get stuck
Step 6: Cry for mama.
Needless to say this is a lot of crying in one day. When I come to help him, he immediately grabs my hands and turns himself into one straight and stiff baby, letting me know that it's walking time. It's the only thing he wants to do, the one and only and nothing else. If I ever try to sit him back down, he will resist with all his strength and then shriek and cry in anger. I don't have time to walk him all day and somehow he is not interested in standing and walking along holding on to furniture. At the end of the day I have listened to so much shrieking and crying that I'm ready to sell him to the next best neighbor. Occasionally Veronika helps me out, but he is heavy and she doesn't have the stamina to do this longer than a few minutes. Back to me. I do not like this stage. Walk already, kid!
He hasn't said anything but occasionally mouths something like "ma-ma-ma". He also has learned to give kisses, which is to plaster a slobbery open mouth on your cheeky. I find that adorable, but I'm the mother, so... I've started showing him some baby signs, which he finds hilarious. Hopefully he'll take to it as well as Ivan did.
Posted by mama at 01:03 PM