10 months 8.2.11

Every month seems to fly by faster than the one before!

Here's a look at July- Eli's 9th month:

He's crawling more and more on his hands and knees. Although, he still scoots around sometimes.

He likes loves dog food. I can't leave my bedroom door open for too long before he's hauling hiney to get to those salty treats. I chase him but that seems to make him go even faster. Upon reaching the food, he grabs a big handful and immediately stuffs it in his mouth. I think he really only wants it because we always tell him "no". Surely it can't be good!

He is very brave and lets go of the furniture to balance on his own. After a few seconds he slowly makes his way to the ground in a squat position.

He still is styling the front top and bottom 2 teeth. I can see some more getting ready to make their debut on the top.

His longest nap this month was 3 hours. He did wake up a few times but I just gave him his binky and patted his bum and he kept going back to sleep. It was wonderful for me since I was pooped from a long run that morning and taking a nap myself.

He still wakes up at night to nurse. I'm not sure that he really needs it. It's just that I know the fastest way for him to fall back asleep- and me, too- is to feed him. So I do. Some nights are better than others in that he will only wake up once- or I will wake him up (if it's a running day I want to feed him before I go if he hasn't eaten during the night so that he wont wake up while I'm gone) A few times he woke up 4/5 times. I'm blaming it on his teeth.

He eats 'real' food everyday. His favorite is still oat bran mixed with banana and cinnamon. He eats black beans and does really well with picking them up one by one. He also likes pretzels, rice cakes, pita chips, frozen banana, mashed potatoes, watermelon, brown rice puff cereal. Pretty much anything we eat, he gets to try.

He had his 9 month visit this month. He measured 30.5" and weighed in at 17lbs 4 oz. Exactly 9" and 9lbs bigger than his birth height/weight.

I tried bringing back dairy into my diet to see how he handles it after being off for a few months. It's still causing a rash on his back, so I'll stay away from it for now. I don't miss it, but if I do crave something, luckily there are enough vegan substitutes out there to keep me satisfied.

His new favorite thing to do is smack patch. He just whacks him on the head with his palm over and over with the biggest open mouth, dimpled grin I've ever seen. Patch takes it like a champ and just sits there, though after a few minutes he walks away, but Eli just follows him.

I'm not sure to count this, but he took a step to daddy. It was more like he way on his way falling to the ground from standing and took a step before he hit the floor.

We love you sweet boy!
xoxo