The weekend before Christmas, John started doing what I call "making proclamations". He walks around hanging on with one hand and raises the other hand in the air as if he's saying something important. (You might also say that his Italian is showing, since he talks with his hands.) Sometimes the raised hand is more of a raised finger, as he's started pointing at things. Too darn cute.
For our entire trip east, he would not allow anyone else to hold him, and pretty much would not let me out of his sight. A big disappointment for my aunts, who hadn't seen him in months and wanted to hold him. :(
December 30 was his nine month visit with the pediatrician. He is 28 inches tall and weighed in at 17 pounds even, a gain of a whole pound in two weeks! (I KNEW he was having a growth spurt!) He is officially on the weight chart between 5th and 10th percentile. Doc said she'd like to see him between 10 and 25, but also that she'd like to see her own son there and he's not -- in other words, not to worry because he's doing just fine. We are hoping that the weight gain will continue but who knows. Other than that, we were given the okay to feed John pretty much anything and everything ("the world is your oyster... but don't give him oysters"). Not that I haven't been doing my own thing as far as food is concerned, but it's nice to feel validated from an expert, so to speak. :) He got caught up on his shots plus the first dose of his flu shot, and took it very well.
Naturally our doctor wanted to know what "baby tricks" he's up to these days... is he crawling? No, we said. He doesn't crawl, he's too busy learning to walk. (And indeed, she was impressed when he demonstrated by trying to run away from her across the exam table.) So we head home, and what does our little stinker do that afternoon but get up on all fours and crawl! I could hardly believe it! Video is posted, of course. ;)
Not that he *likes* to crawl. I think today he was starting to get the idea that it might be a useful way to get around... but for now, crawling is still a last resort to get to [usually me] so he can stand up and walk around. Even so, we now officially have a fully mobile man, and Joe's first act once this happened was to put up the last baby gate. (Much to the dismay of the cat, who is apparently unable to jump over them, and thus is locked out of either his food or his litter box for most of the day.)
John has also (finally) figured out how to get his knees under himself and push up to a sitting position. Tonight in the bathtub he got up on his hands and feet and seemed to be trying to stand up on his own... we'll see tomorrow if he starts trying that on dry land. He's been starting to let go and stand on his own for a few seconds, so I'm thinking first steps might be this month -- we'll see though.
He "talks" all the time now, and it's almost starting to sound like words, although they don't mean anything yet. He talks to us, and he also talks quietly to himself while playing on his own. He says "ott", "oot", "duc", "nom", "hi", "dada", "nana", "yesh", "oss". We talk back, either repeating his sounds or naming whatever he's holding or looking at. My dad says he sounds like he's going to be a talker like I was (as opposed to a grunter like my sister). ;) He's also screaming, a very high-pitched squeal that can be quite loud. He started doing it this week every time he would see the cat, and now he just does it whenever, for fun. Oh, boy. (I can't wait until he does it in the middle of Mass. :P )
While visiting my parents last week, he started dropping Cheerios on the floor to see if the dog would come.
He loves to eat, pretty much anything. The only things he seemed not to like were avocados, although he refused chicken a few times, and he also isn't keen on plain yogurt now that he's had yogurt with stuff mixed in. Still, as I have friends with babies the same age who spit out their vegetables and refuse any food from a spoon, I realize we've been lucky with food so far. He gets a lot more finger foods now, but still eats well from a spoon too. He's crazy with finger foods: he'll take handfuls and stuff them in his mouth, so we have to be careful to only give him a few pieces at a time. Today Joe showed him the whole cup of Cheerios, and John slowly reached 2 fingers in to pick one up -- then at the last second he shoved in the whole fist and grabbed as many as he could, the little piggy. :)
He does so many funny things these days, we just can't get enough of him. I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone... somehow it's 2009 and we're starting to think about his first birthday. *faint* A year ago we were just starting childbirth classes and I was worrying about whether I'd fit into my dress for Jana's wedding. It would be funny to see a picture of myself from then. :)
Happy new year everyone, and I hope it brings wonderful things to all!