9 Month Wellness Visit

Good check-up, Dada!

William checked out great at his 9 month wellness visit. The doctor's office had us complete a form that gauges his developmental activity and he passed with flying colors. Questions asked on the form were... Can he pass objects from hand to hand? Can he pick up bits of food with his thumb and pointer finger? Can he say several "words" like baba, dada, mama? Does he respond to his name being called? Things of that nature. No problem for the little man!

William's stats:

Weight: 18 lbs. 6 oz. / 27% percentile
Height: 30" / 97th% percentile

We looked at his growth over the past 9 months and it's a very steady shot up in both weight and height. He clearly has a very healthy metabolism, so he continues to be long and lean. As a result, the doctor said feel free to add a 3rd solid meal to the day and he's free to eat whatever he'd like. William's doctor said to check out our own meals every night and see what is on our plate for him to eat, so we encourage 1. you eat when we eat, 2. you eat what we eat. William still loves his bottles. I have been giving him four bottles a day, but I'm noticing he's more and more interested in food and that 4th bottle should be dropped. Three bottles a day now and three meals.

Two shots accompanied the wellness visit. One being the flu shot. William got a temperature later that evening, but today he's back to a normal temp.

The doctor also thinks William will be walking soon since he's already trying to stand alone. I can't imagine him stumbling around the house on his feet! He is too little!

All else is well. The next time we visit the doctor will be William's 1 year wellness visit. Only a few months away!

9 Months

Big 9 month old!

 

 

Happy 9 month birthday, William! William is doing so much lately. He's learned to climb up stairs, he's standing for a few seconds at a time, he's had his first cold, he has four teeth with a fifth tooth peeking out, and on and on... I am loving this month. With the holidays coming up I know it will be just like my pregnancy this time last year though... fast forward to William's due date or this year, William's 1st birthday!


Dog goes overboard.

Some William-isms...

It is funny how some old toys that fascinated William a couple months ago are now re-fascinating (if that is a word) as he develops new skills. For instance, one particular square box that makes different noises is now interesting again because William realizes he can use his pointer finger to move the round disc in the box. William also finds the most simple things around the house interesting. Tape measure, pots and pans, Maggie's collar, Maggie's dog bowls too, unfortunately! Who needs new toys when there are so many fun objects around the house??

The square box I mentioned to the left.

An oldie, but a goodie.

So many interesting things to investigate.

William seems to respond to his name more so as of late and when I scold him for doing something "bad" it's as if he is basing his response on my reaction. If I look unhappy he may change what he's doing. A new fun thing to do is stand in the tub and he may sit down if I look displeased.

Dada has now made the list of words to say repeatedly. Mama mama mama was pretty popular for some time now, but Dada is making it to #1. Dad walks in the house in the evening and it's "Dada dada dada..." We visited Matt at work this morning and we were sitting there waiting for Matt to walk back in his office. Before Matt walked in William heard his voice outside the door. William got so excited and speed crawled to the door to find his "Dada." He loves his Dada!

The toes are still crossed if he's not standing up. His eyes are still blue. A darker more gray blue. His hair is getting thicker every day. The bottom part is getting longer, so his first haircut may be just the lower portion of his hair! With all these new teeth a fun noise to make is teeth grinding!! It sounds like nails on chalkboard to me and William just laughs. Every couple weeks it's a new noise. Another fun game is peek a boo. Ask him, "Where's William?" and he does a good job of taking any nearby fabric (shirt, blanket, etc.) nearby and hides his face.

Toes crossed. For good luck?

Mr. Blue Eyes

A few firsts...

First trip to the Sanford Zoo. No lions, tigers or bears, but there were some other smaller animals he found pretty interesting!

First trip for mama and dada minus William. We went to Los Angeles, CA, while William stayed in Florida with his Grandma and Grandpa Orosz.

Hollywood

First bite of meat. William had pureed chicken and vegetables. He ate it right up.

That's all for now! Quite a bit, but every day it's something new around here. You're growing up quick, little man!

Stair Climber

Being sick hasn't stopped William. On Sunday night he climbed the stairs for the first time much to our surprise. We never introduced stairs to him, so we were pretty impressed when he climbed up as if he had done it before. Today he climbed all the way up to the landing. Video below of William tackling the summit (with a few shaky moments as I jump forward to catch him in case he falls!). Time to get a gate...

First Cold

I don't feel good. Leave me with my Builder magazine...

So the day finally came - William has a cold, sadly! I have said so many times I can't believe he hasn't been sick yet, since he puts anything in sight in his mouth. The poor guy last Thursday night got up three times in the middle of the night. He NEVER wakes up in the middle of the night, but he didn't feel warm and he'd start to giggle when we picked him up. By the morning he felt warm though and when I took his temperature it was 101. I was en route to New York City to visit friends and so the wonderful husband that Matt is took the little man to the walk-in hours at the doctor to see what was up. Turns out it was just a cold virus and there isn't much to do besides give him Tylenol. Friday night Matt said he didn't sleep very well and he was very cranky Friday and Saturday during the day. Saturday night he went back to sleeping through the night and Sunday when I got home he seemed to be on the mend. Today he is still under the weather. He's coughing every so often and has a pretty runny nose. But he was happy to play with his toys and roam the house, which this weekend Matt said he was more content to be held. I spoke with the doctor today and since his temperature disappeared on Sunday, he doesn't need any more Tylenol unless we think he looks a little uncomfortable. Hopefully by Friday he should be back at 100%. It works out nicely because on Thursday we go to William's 9 month appointment, so at least we have a nice follow-up from his visit this past Friday. Feel better, William! Problem is... Mama and Daddy are starting to feel under the weather too... Time to get some rest. Goodnight!

I love puffs

Nothing distracts William more than a slew of puffs. I love his concentration as he picks each one up and pops it in his mouth. It requires even more complex thinking when a puff gets stuck in the palm of his hand (and those puffs get sticky!).

The look of determination

Puff stuck

Bingo!

Why is this so interesting?

Right, I got a puff in my mouth!

Clapping

I mentioned in my last post that William likes to clap hands with another person, but now he's perfected clapping on his own. It's never a bad time to clap. He claps in his carseat, he claps in the morning in his crib, he claps when we're walking, and so on. Here is a video of him clapping for one of the first times. I like how he looks at the palm of his hands afterward. Wow... that noise came from you guys!

Pumpkin Picking

We are ready for the fall weather to hit Florida and all the exciting holidays that will be a first for William. Here we are picking out his first pumpkin. We had two visits to the pumpkin patch already. I am slightly obsessed with all things fall and didn't mind going twice at all, but the real reason we went back the next day was they only accepted cash and I only had a few quarters on me to buy the smallest pumpkin available. The pumpkin patch was a little worrisome for William and the volunteer at the patch reminded William that in a couple months this will be the least of his worries once he meets an old man with a white beard wearing a huge red costume. Santa! The second trip was a success though and William came out with a great big pumpkin.

William's 75¢ pumpkin - the perfect size.

I don't know how I feel about this pumpkin patch...

Here we are with the final pumpkin pick.
I actually didn't coordinate this picture.
The volunteers arranged it!

Updates on Big Willie Style

William continues to amaze me. I've already said it before, but since he turned 6 months it's been fast forward. He seems more like a little boy each day. Some new updates for the little man...

• Clapping: he's a big fan of clapping his hand against someone else's. I put out my hand and say "Let's clap" and he knows to slap his hand down.
• Climbing: he can climb onto Maggie's bed, which is only a handful of inches off the ground, but I suppose it's a start! We caught William trying to climb the stairs this morning. He was standing up at the bottom of the stairs trying to lift his foot onto the first step. I've also caught him trying to lift himself up onto the subwoofer (I don't know why we have this) next to the television stand.

Climbing on top of boxes

 

Trying to climb on top of the subwoofer

• Sharing: he thinks it's a hoot to share his food. He takes a bite of his cracker then offers me a bite. Take a bite and he thinks it's very funny.
• Wheezing: this is a new noise. We even took him to the doctor last week. Instead everything checked out clear and like I assumed, the doctor said this is just a new funny sound he's making. We did check out his weight at the drop-in and he's now 17 lbs. 10 oz.
• Tantrums: not the most exciting new update for William. But it is a little funny (I think this inside my head because I don't want him to interrupt a tantrum as making my parents laugh). Sometimes going in the carseat he'll have a quick outburst or putting on his pjs at night when he's tired he'll have a quick outburst. It's more than a "Wah! I'm a baby and I cry." - it's a "I am a big boy and I DON'T LIKE THIS!" It lasts two seconds then he reverts to a baby cry. Just a sign of toddlerhood to come?