Darling

Standing

Emme is pulling herself up to standing now.  She'll crawl to me, take my fingers and stand up.  Of course, then she'll let go because she wants to stand up all by herself.  But she can't, so she just plunks back down.  She's also learned how to pull herself up on the furniture, like the couch or the ottomans in the living room.  She's not really cruising yet, but she does love to stand.  Oliver thinks it's an amazing development (I'm sure Cookie will reach this milestone soon, too), and he wants to hold on to her while she stands up.  Not such a good idea, but I appreciate the desire.

So Emme continues to develop quickly, a little ahead of what Oliver did.  Her pincer grip is still lacking.  She tends to hold food in her fist instead of her fingers, which makes it hard to get it in her mouth.  This, I am sure, Oliver mastered very quickly.  She also still has no teeth and no sign of any coming in soon.  I have to assume it will eventually happen, but it's still strange to see such a gummy grin on a standing baby!

Nine months

Oliver had his nine-month checkup on Monday, thankfully our last one with this woe-begotten pediatrician's office. We were actually seen on time for once -- like some kind of parting gift. Oliver smiled and babbled at all of the nurses on the way in and refused to sit in my lap while we waited for the doctor. He's started standing, though, so I propped him to keep him from trying to crawl around the floor. I left the nice growth charts at the office, but I remember him being just over 22 lbs. (75th %tile) and almost 30 inches (90th %tile), right on track for where he's been all along. The doctor noted that some babies drop percentiles in weight at this age because of their increased activity. Evidently, Ollie has kept up his food intake to match his exercise. He's doing everything he's supposed to be and more. He got two shots, an MMR test (a Children's Memorial resident had TB, so all kids seen in these offices have to have one), plus they drew blood because the doctor thought he looked yellow. It took two nurses and me to hold him still enough to draw it, him screaming all the while. Wes was unimpressed when I told him she's ordered these tests; he argued they were unwarranted -- his eyes aren't yellow, and he's otherwise completely healthy. I got a call today that all the labs were normal, so that's good.

At nine months, Ollie is pulling himself up into a kneeling positions and thinking about trying to pull to standing. He likes to be stood up next to things so that he can hold on and stand up, but then he gets upset because he wants down but is afraid to let go. He doesn't like falling. I don't think it's so much the bump at the end as the falling itself (he's never been one to like getting tossed in the air, hence his hesitancy with the swings, I think), but I'm sure he'll get used to it. His top two teeth are about a third in and moving slowly down, and I can even see two new spots next to his front teeth where more are heading in. He's been very easy with the teething process and just mainly seems to drool more. He's still a strict two-nap guy, though he skips that afternoon nap if the schedule gets too far off (sleeping in late or too long for the morning nap) and then gets cranky toward evening. We haven't had a lot more complete nights of sleep, but I think Nashville will make a difference with this with him upstairs and us down. I've found on nights when I wait it out that he often falls asleep after a few minutes of even somewhat intensen crying. He loves playing with Lucy -- they share her toys. Oliver will play with one, then Lucy takes it from him. Oliver gets the other toy, then Lucy switches. They'll play up to half an hour like this without any problems, but, of course, continued oversight on our part. He likes to take movies and books off the shelf but is fortunately drawn to his books and not ours. He constantly wants in the front bathroom so he can splash in the dog's water bowl and push the stroller back and forth. He is patient in the stroller and very observant. And he's warmed back up to other people -- not necessarily smiley right away, but he'll play with them and giggle as time passes.

Tomorrow is Oliver's last day with our sitter and her son. I've honestly thought about how important it will be to find some new little people for him to play with in Nashville. I think he's grown really attached to having Jack around, and I don't want him to lose that interaction. I'm thinking the playground in the nearby park will provide some possibilities.