Asher - 9 months

Asher is 9 months old!

He weighs in at 18.8lb on the home scale. He is wearing 12 month clothes and size 3 shoes (if he wears shoes, but mostly he is barefoot or wears reindeer/moose booties).

Asher has been working hard on his gross motor development this month. A month ago, he was starting to pull up to standing. He now can pull up on just about anything, even a flat surface like the side of a dresser. In a corresponding, and very important, further development, he can now also lower himself back down rather than crying for assistance. Sometimes he'll sit on his knees to play if he needs to be up higher than his belly. He "army" crawls on his belly, and people are always commenting on how fast he is. He can go a few paces in a regular crawl.

 He has discovered two new games: "throw all the diapers out of the diaper drawer" and "fetch" with anyone who will return his dropped toys or food. He really likes to wave cloth around, be it diapers or blankets or clothes, and to play peek-a-boo. He can throw a little toy for himself and then chase it. He also enjoys playing with trucks (especially the Green Toys firetruck) and always wants to check out what Ezra is doing - which is rarely appreciated by Ezra.

Asher still only has two teeth. One of his top incisors is slowly cutting through the gum, but it's not in yet. He is a much slower teether than Ezra was. However, he's more interested in food - some recent favorites include crackers, bread, sauteed kale (really!), and steak. He is very enthusiastic about our metal straws and can drink smoothie or water through one, but he hasn't been as interested in his sippy cup of water with a silicone straw. And what a lucky baby to have a big brother who leaves sweets within reach - Asher has managed to taste an Oreo, a cinnamon roll, a lollipop, and a Christmas cookie. (Obviously, he loved them until they were taken away. I never thought I would *actually* take candy from a baby, because why would a baby have candy? Oh, because of big brothers who get candy sometimes. But I digress.)

Asher is quite communicative. He says "mama" and "dada" (or "mamamamamama," etc.) and I could swear I've heard him say something that sounds an awful lot like "Ezra" every now and then. Those are his only words, but he makes his desires clear via nonverbal communication.

For the past few months, Asher's sleep schedule has been about the same. He takes a 1-2 hour morning nap about two hours after he wakes up, then an afternoon nap, which varies in timing because we so often are out of the house in the afternoon. Bedtime is 7 p.m., he wakes up a few times to nurse, and is up for the day around 7 a.m.

He remains a very smiley baby, making friends with people whenever we are out in public, and is usually fine with a friendly person holding him as long as mom and dad give him the cue that it's okay. In relaxed situations, he'll even crawl into new laps! He doesn't laugh all that often, but tossing him up in the air is a sure way to get a laugh.