Balancing Act

Between crawling and walking is aligning all the proper rods and cones of the vestibular. Kole is a quick and willing student. What he's doing in the video he frequently does on his own, without mom or dad's intervention.

Some Slimming/Making a Stand at 9 Months

At Kole's 9-month doctor's appointment, he weighed 21 pounds even - a slight decrease from the 8-month mark. The doctor says this is normal, as he's now crawling and pulling himself up, active and mobile, losing his baby fat. He's almost squarely at the 50-percentile split of the bell-curve for weight of 9-month-olds in the US. He's slightly above average.
On the other hand, at 31-and-1/4 inches long, he's still above the 95th-percentile of US babies at 9 months - meaning less than 5% of babies are longer than he is. He's a string bean - but healthy as a horse. We've been told to start decreasing his bottled formula and increase his cereal, jarred fruits and vegetables, and other jarred meats for added protein.
The top two teeth are coming. One is very noticeable, while the other is still hidden a bit.

The other major development at 9 months has been in concert with his ability to pull himself upright. Lately, he has become adventurous enough to be standing at the coffee table, know that mom and dad are watching ... then slowly, purposely, let go of the table. We've counted up to 3-Mississippi as the longest stand, but he obviously has great curiosity for standing on his own, and trusts his ability to fall backwards on his butt. Sunday night when I came home from Iowa, he was standing between the coffee table and couch, and began the routine of letting go of the table, and giving a 1-Mississippi count or less before grabbing the couch. He's learning balance and obviously has a great adventurous nature to want to keep getting up and trying it again. It's incredible to watch him and just see the wheels turning inside his head, figuring out this whole business of standing upright.
Photo: Not too many mirrors in the house at ground-level for Kole to check himself out in. But there is a handy reflection in the stainless steel of the kitchen trash can, where he frequently finds a familiar friend.

A Major Sprout at 9 months

Nine months old today. Unbelievable. That's ... almost a year.
The developments from 8 months have been remarkable. He is gaining more coordination from a sit-to-crawl position and vice-versa. The newest trick, as the video shows, is his ability to pull himself up. He's mostly doing it in his crib - where he has presented a new challenge when he's grumpy and not wanting to sleep. He'll now stand in his crib and pout. Sometimes, it's funny to watch him try to stand upright right in the middle of the floor. He'll have nothing to grab or support his weight, but he'll lift his butt in the air, straighten out his legs, do a push-up with his arms ... then try to figure out the next step, then quickly give up.

Jumperoo till you can't stand no more

I posted a photo on this a while ago, but it can't hold a candle to the whole effect of seeing the video. The Jumperoo has been one of Kole's favorite little play things - not so much for the junk on it that he diddles and grabs and plays with, but the kid just loves jumping. He can go an hour solid jumping, then rocking and swaying, back to jumping ... repeat. Well, soon enough, nap time will come around. Luckily for us, God bless him, instead of crying or throwing some other whiney fit, he'll simply just doze of in mid-jump or mid-sway.

Redecorating for the rug-rat

If you don't have a mental image of the house before, you'll have to do your best on my descriptions. I can't find a good wide "before" shot of our living room ... "before" Kole started crawling. I can tell you that our sofa/love-seat combo also had a matching single reclining chair, which sat along side an end table between the love seat and our big counter-top of the kitchen, essentially in the bullseye of the living room. Right up under the counter-top on the living room side were two barstools. Also back in our adjoining dining room against the burgandy wall was a dining table and four chairs.
Well ... Junior needs some romping room, and the bottom rung of the barstools were too easy for him to grab onto. It doesn't take much jostling for them to become top-heavy and wobbly. So, out went those. Out went the recliner (into our bedroom, as a nice addition), and the end table was repositioned in the back of the dining nook - where the dining table was swapped out with the pub table and chairs, which had been in our little breakfast nook off our kitchen.
The end result was a ton of space created for crawling, and soon enough for wrestling and rough-housing. Another staple of Kole's infancy was cleared away ... his, um ... (sniff) ... swing. Little romper is too big for the swing, and once that was moved out, the spot seemed an ideal place for his Jumperoo - which he's also not far from outgrowing.
It's very quick to be sentimental about the swing, and the Papasan, which were calming, soothing friends to Kole when he was at his grumpiest. As we're taking it away, Kathy and I event played the little music box - with repetitive notes that have become imprinted into our brains. Kind of a solemn moment of ... 'Remember how this song would cut through the crying and create instant calm?'. They were once simply objects in a box, inherited at one baby shower or another. They soon became trusy friends.
But, the changes are coming. As you see the pictures, I'm sure you'll notice the little glass bar thing and wine rack with little wine and margarita glasses dangling from them. Something needs to be done there, we know. The house is a work in progress. Next up - safety stops on kitchen drawers and cabinets.