Nine Months Old

We had a nice weekend at home, me and my little family, and are now halfway through another week so all is well and blessings can be counted!  Over the weekend Ruckus did not particularly enjoy his first sugar free Popsicle.  He seemed a little put off by the flavor I chose, Pina colada, but still seemed to enjoy the feel of it on his gums.  I have never had to throw away a Popsicle after giving it to a child before this so I guess there really is a first time for everything.

He did seem to enjoy gnawing on a bit of watermelon, the rind in particular, which I had to fish out of his mouth lest he make a meal of just rind and none of the good stuff.  He eats anything he can fit into his mouth and seems particularly interested in eating whatever is on my plate, which means that sometimes we have to arm wrestle over particularly tasty morsels.  Luckily I always cook for more people than I'm feeding so there is plenty to go around.

On Monday we went to baby's 9 month checkup.  The doctor herself is actually a nurse, who resembles Kathy Bates but is not as creepy in person as that thought may imply.  When she first came into the room she did not acknowledge me in the least but went past me, straight to my husband and said how familiar he looked.  I spoke up and reminded her that we'd been there before, months ago, so perhaps that is why.  At which point she realized I was also in the room.

She asked our permission to let a student doctor observe the appointment and after granting permission to let him in we were off to the races.  Ruckus has been in good health lately which has kept us out of the doctor's office, so I really had no clue how much he was growing, other than A Lot.  This time he weighed in at 21 lbs., 4 oz, and measured 29 inches tall.

The checkup appointment went well and was a good thing for us as parents as we always doubt our own abilities to spot signs of trouble and wonder if certain things are normal or otherwise.  He is perfectly normal and growing and developing on track.  The doctor wrote a prescription for a mild hydro-cortisone cream for his eczema which in spite of getting better has not disappeared altogether.   I am hopeful that we can have professional photos done again soon which do not feature abnormally rosy cheeks.

A summary of the changes over the last three months:

     Gained 2 lbs., 10 oz.
     Grew 2 inches taller
     Grew six more teeth
     Mastered sitting up
     Learned to grasp things
     Learned to feed himself small crunchy things
     Learned how to crawl
     Learned how to stand up
     Learned how to fall down without landing on his head
     Other things which I am so used to him doing now that they don't spring to mind as 'new'

After the appointment he went home with dad and I went to work.  He has been in a better mood the last couple of days and I'm hoping that it is due to less pain from teething and that we will have a break between tooth number 8 and 9.  We shall see what happens.

Today I am going to try to find some new baby clothes at a reasonable price.  Ruckus has officially outgrown most of his wardrobe so I've got to find several basic items in 12-18 mo. sizes.  The 18 mo. size is just a little big on him right now but I hate to invest in a bunch of things size 12 mo. which he will grow out of in about a week.  Many of the things that seemed comfortable for him when he was smaller are difficult to find at the moment, probably because of the season, such as footed pajamas.  Soon the weather will warm and I won't have to worry about his feet getting cold for a while, which is great since they now poke out the bottom of everything he owns.