Hitched on Health: Caleb 9 Months

Age: 9 months
Weight: 25lbs
Size clothes:18-24 month (no pants fit)

Interests:
Caleb is exploring sound right now. The sound his voice makes, the sound of a great slap of the hand on the tile, and most recently the sound a tin top makes when it is hurled on the hardwood. Joyous things. We have chosen not to have any toys that make sound except for his baby Einstein Mozart toy. It is so fun to watch him explore where sound originates and what causes various sound textures! He also loves to interact with people, especially other babies, when we are out. He will stare someone down until they make eye contact with him and then he will burst into a smile the moment he know he's hooked them in. I get a lot of comments from people saying, "Wow! He's such a happy baby!" and they are completely right. This kid is pretty easy to please. Caleb has also taken up a voracious reading habit. He literally devours books every chance he can get (seriously, I had to duct tape one because he chewed the spine off). He has very discriminating tastes in books and prefers ones that involve livestock.

Learning about sheep

Challenges: Caleb is getting into everything now that he is mobile. His main targets are cords and outlets. I block off the living room so he can roam and play freely but it won't be long until he has figured out a way to scale the couch cushions and reach the much desired tower fan. Another challenge has been to see his free-will and desires grow. He now will become upset when a toy, or what he thinks is a toy but is unsafe, be taken away from him or be out of his reach.

Sensory board with his pillows keeping him away from the fan

Milestones: Crawling and sitting! On September 20th my mom came down for Caleb's dedication. That night Caleb started army crawling and got himself into a sitting position consistently! After two weeks of army crawling Caleb was crawling on his knees. The amazing thing about these milestones is they happened at the exact same time. If you read my post on Babies and Movement Readiness you will remember that we did not put Caleb in a sitting position so that his spine and muscle structure could develop correctly. As soon as Caleb could put himself into a sitting position independently he could also move from tummy to sitting and back to tummy. He has only fallen backwards 4-5 times and this has been because he was distracted. His posture is perfect. I am so glad we waited for this milestone to develop on its own and now we can see the benefits! If you want to see the little guy in action you can check out videos on my Instagram account. As side note Caleb has started saying "Da-da-da" and Ma-ma-ma" recently!

On his way to crawling, this guy could barely sit still

Eating/sleeping/pooping: Caleb has really grown a lot in his nursing capabilities. He will now nurse in our Ergo carrier (praise the Lord) and will nurse straddling my while sitting in my lap. Its a bit awkward but its nice to have another position besides lying down for every feeding. Sleep has been a little varied because he was sick. He goes to sleep around 7 or 8pm on his Montessori floor bed and will nurse around 2am and again at 5am. He will wake up for the day around 7am. It isn't recommended to attempt to night wean until a child reaches 1 year of age so I am content to treasure these precious nighttime moments and enjoy the baby snuggles. His naps are pretty great and it is a whole lot easier for me to wait until he is giving me tired signs than it is for me to try to force a nap on him. Well let's talk poop. Since doing a few more solids I have to say this new stuff in the diaper is a bit gross. I have found plenty of sand he apparently consumed after going to the beach.

Favorite sleeping position on his floor bed

Funny Memory:
Caleb has been really excited about throwing balls recently. He will play "catch" with John which is just about the most precious thing in the whole wide world. He was sitting in front of his mirror in his room with his green ball when I noticed he was making faces at himself. He then started throwing the ball to his "friend" in the mirror. The awesome thing was the ball bounced back and he did it a few more times! I was able to catch it on video and I watched it about 20 times after he was in bed over the course of several nights.