Baby Beck : 9 months

I'm a little late in getting things done this month as your nine month birthday fell on New Year's Day. Postponing your pictures just 1 day ultimately meant postponing them 7 days as the weeks just seem to fly by lately. This past month has been one of the busiest and most exciting since we brought you home from the hospital. This month saw Christmas, New Year's, and a whole lot of shopping. In one month's time you've learned to sit, begun to scooch, and grown a tooth. Here's the run down:

Teeth: You've got one! Well, almost anyway. That top right tooth has finally broken through and it is not coming in without a fight.

Eating: The news from the doctor at your last check-up was not great so we have been trying to add in a larger variety of higher fat and protein foods. Cottage cheese was a complete bust (I don't blame you one bit). Yogurt continues to be a favorite, though apple sauce may be taking the lead. Vegetables are going over better than fruits and you spit a blackberry out on the carpet the other day. Thank you for that. Mango makes you gag and tofu seems to be a take-it-or-leave it food. Nothing seems to beat Cheerios, though. You inhale them like a vacuums cleaner.

Drinking: You have now become a bottle baby. I have a bit of guilt and anxiety over this, but I know it is what is best. You are happier and have a fuller tummy. I still have plenty of milk stocked in the freezer to keep you going and I will continue to pump, but formula appears to be your new best friend.

Sitting: You can sit!!! On December 22, at nearly nine months old, you finally began to sit on your own. Admittedly, I was beginning to get a bit worried. I knew not to be and I should have known you would just do things in your own time.

Crawling: You are so close. You still roll all over the place and you now army crawl as well, lying on your belly and pulling yourself forward. You also do the backwards crawl where you lie on your back and scooch your feet to get where you are going. You have found this to be especially effective on the tile and sometimes I just let you go to see how far you'll scooch (though you did wind up under the credenza the other day so maybe that wasn't the best idea). You can get up on all fours now and when you do you shake your little bottom like your gearing up to go and then fall to the side. You are too cute.

Sleeping: Agghhh!!! What is going on with the sleeping?!?! I blame it on the teeth. Or the substandard quality breast milk you were drinking. All of a sudden over Christmas break you decided that anytime between 4:30 and 5:15 am was a perfect time to wake for the day. No sir. I cannot tolerate that. Especially on vacation. We have since been giving you a (giant) formula bottle in the early morning if you wake and that holds you over until a reasonable hour when the sun is actually shining. (Apparently that is as late as 7:30 on the mornings I am not home. I'm not as lucky.) Your brother, on the other hand, has kindly taken over your role as the early-waker.

Crying: We have a bit more of this lately due to the teeth. Crying, whining, general fussiness- I am hoping sure it will pass.

General cuteness: You squeal when we tickle you and it drives me crazy with giddy. You love your bath more than just about anything and you continue to find humor in everything Anderson does. Your smile melts my heart.