9 Month Update!

Okay, now that the shock has left from him turning 9 months old, I figured I better write his 9 month update........what am I going to do when he turns a year??

The last month has been an exciting one! It brought with it his first road trip to San Diego to see Brandon, his first beach day, his first apricots, first broccoli, first swimming lessons, first Easter, first asparagus, and his first taste of mommy's ice cream cone. He didn't like ice cream!!! Kyle said he must not be my son b/c everyone knows my love of ice cream is strong. Maybe it will grow on him:-) Broccoli was strongly disliked as well. He held it in his mouth and crawled around with it, spitting as much as he could out. Then he tried to swallow some of it and gagged and threw up! So we are mixing little amounts of broccoli in with favorites to hopefully let the taste grow on him. Along with the fun firsts was also a not so fun one. He had his first ear infection:(, first fever, and first antibiotics. Actually believing the doctor that he had an ear infection was really hard for me, I don't like that I can't look in and check that he is telling me the truth and I really don't like putting him on antibiotics but his fevers weren't going away, we waited 4 days and every night they were spiking to 102.7 and then in the morning they would be gone or around 99.6 degrees. At first I thought it was teething but since the fevers were higher than they say babies usually spike with teething I decided I better check it out. I really wanted to ask the doctor if I could look with his otoscope....but I thought he would probably be upset I wasn't trusting his clinical judgement so I swallowed my worries and decided since it was his first ever antibiotic at 9 months, I'd just let it be for this time......now if it happens again anytime soon I may be buying an otoscope;-). But after starting the amoxicillin he did seem to be better pretty quickly and he didn't have anymore fevers. Grandma and Grandpa Hingst got to be here for his first ear infection, luckily he wasn't too bad for being in pain!

Kayden has gotten SO mobile it is crazy! He crawls everywhere and has mastered crawling on all 4s, but from time to time he still drops down to his belly and army crawls as fast as he can to get to something. He gets very antsy now if he can't get down and explore and tells me all about it if we are in a store or out to eat and I won't put him down. He is strong willed, which I keep telling myself is a good characteristic for a boy and the first born. He continues to love pulling himself up on everything he can. His favorites are the refridgerator door, dishwasher door when mommy is doing dishes and the sliding glass door when Fifi is outside. He is starting to stand here and there independently but still isn't sure of himself and plops down as soon as he realizes what he is doing. He also pushes up on his hands and feet now with his bootie in the air, it is so funny to look at! He is starting to really like his walking toy and has also turned everything else into a walking toy, his red car is a walking toy now, awhile ago the diaper box was a walking toy, the stroller is a walking toy, he loves to push and walk with anything he can find. His fine motor skills are also fine tuning as his gross motor skills mature. He loves to use the pincher grasp when eating and playing with his toys. A new favorite toy is his shape sorter and he is getting better and better and putting the shapes into the right hole, but still prefers to bang the shape on the lid over actually doing the activity:-)

His language development is continuing to grow and grow! He babbles almost constantly. We wake up to his babbling and he often babbles himself to sleep, kind of like he is singing himself to sleep. So sweet! His favorite sounds are bababa, gagaga, goo, and mama. He loves to say mama and has even started saying "mom" here and there. As soon as I leave a room I hear "mama mama" and of course the speech therapist in me won't let me not respond! I have to let him know that he can communicate with me and that I will respond to his communication.....so we have a mommy that is constantly running back into rooms to let him know he has used "mama" as communication. Makes for difficult days sometimes, and not much gets done. But in the long run the laundry will always be there, the dishes always need to be put away but he won't always be this tiny and learning about his developing communication skills;-) Kyle is still waiting for "dada" he tries to say it is because I am home with him all day saying "mama" but we all know it's just because he loves his "mama" so much! Along with his sounds he has also started to "Growl" at Fifi. At first we didn't know what he was doing but then we noticed it is a special sound he makes for her! They growl back and forth! It is hysterical to watch and listen to and I get many giggles through out the day watching their little banter. Kyle always says they are "two pees in a pod" and they really are. Fifi is his favorite toy by far and he smiles as soon as he sees her in the morning and loves to watch her, play with her and share his food with her! Sharing is also something that developed this month. It started when we were in San Diego, he decided to share his mum mums with daddy and I and now he LOVES to share all of his treats, puffs, cheerios, mum mums with us AND Fifi! He'll chew on the mum mums and then hold it out for Fifi and she'll chew on it and then it goes back in his mouth........hard for mommy to watch!

Within the past couple of days he has finally decided his table food really is good. He now lets me know when it is his lunch time because he wants his yogurt and at dinner time he is now getting excited when he sits in his high chair. Finger foods are by far his favorite, he loves slices of banana, cheese, cheerios, pretty much anything he can feed himself. He surprisingly does pretty well with it and most of it is going in him! He could eat cheese for 3 meals a day and probably would keep shoving it in his mouth if I would let him! Daddy says him loving cheese means he is his father's son. We are still doing mostly 2 meals a day, some days he sits in his high chair with cheerios and banana at breakfast but so far that isn't too much of a hit yet. He continues to nurse about 5-6 times a day and then a couple times during the night. We moved his crib to his room and he starts the night in there and then when he wakes up he comes to bed with us till the morning. I still love sleeping with him so I'm not pushing the transition that hard. Daddy was all for it but then when grandpa and grandma Hingst were here for Easter and I asked them if they had ever co-slept they said they did with all of their kids for about 2 years each! Now he isn't so against it.......funny how it is a different story when he hears it from his parents;-) Mommy is happy with that. He is waking up between 6 and 6:30 and takes his morning nap around 8:30 and his afternoon one between 2 and 3 and his bedtime is between 7:30 and 8:30. So far his sleeping is going pretty good in his room.......I think it was harder on mommy than him!

We started Rolly Pollies this month and are transitioning from Gymboree to Rollies. I think it might be a better fit for Mr. Mobile because he has started getting pretty opinionated at Gymboree and doesn't want to sit for the songs right now, he would rather go and explore the room. Rollies is more gross motor based and I think for now that is what he wants. He has these new skills and he is super proud of them and wants to use em! We are in Rollies with his 3 friends, Tula, Tatum and Danica and he is excited to get to see them every Monday at 12. We still go to storytime on Wednesdays at the Hamilton library and he loves the books, bells and bubble time. So we keep very busy each week with our scheduled activities and then our playdates on top of that. He is a social guy and loves getting together with his friends and rolling around on the ground. Daddy had always thought we were in our mommy group for me but then we went out to dinner with his friends and he got to see how much he really does like Tula and Tatum. Daddy also got to meet his friend Danica at swimming lessons and he has decided he believes me when I tell him he has "friends":-) He always tries to say our playdates are just mommy social hour.......but now he knows that on top of mommy social hour Kayden is learning some good socializing skills!

It has been a fun and exciting month! So much has changed and I know I'll say the same thing next month but man does it go fast!