David - Clapping and (Semi)Walking!

David is doing some new exciting things this week!

Yesterday, March 30th, after his afternoon nap, I set him down on the floor to play. He looked at his hands and slapped them together. Then he did it again. Then he looked up at me and did it over and over again with this HUGE grin on his face. Yes, he's clapping! And he's quite proud and excited about it, too. I captured a small video clip of him clapping tonight at dinner time thanks to Matt and Jay.

David has been able to do this for a couple of weeks now, but I finally captured a video of him doing it. This is another activity he gets a kick out of being able to do. He hasn't taken his first steps apart from holding on to something, but it is clear he could if he set his mind to doing it.

Yummy Food & Kitchen "Helpers"

On March 15th Matt and I enjoyed Chicken Carbonara (spaghetti pasta, rotisserie chicken, basil, parsley, cream, eggs, parmesan cheese, lemon zest garnish). I pulled out some of the spaghetti from the dish and offered it to David. He really loves to feed himself these days.

Can you tell he loved it? He was a mess after finishing it (his hands, his face, even some in his hair), but it was totally worth it. A bath that night spiffed him up again.

Wednesday morning, March 23rd, I had my two "helpers" in the kitchen. The two of them opened up my pots and pans cupboard and had lots of fun pulling items out, banging the lids on the ground (what a lot of noise those make!) and just generally having a great time playing together.

David's 9 Month Well Check

As I mentioned in the previous post, on Saturday, March 12 David turned 9 months old! Today was the day for his pediatrician check-up. Here are his latest stats:

Today's Weight: 18 lbs., 13.5 oz. (25%)
Today's Length/Height: 28-1/2" (50%)
Today's Head Circumference: 18-1/4" (75%)

David's 9 month old well check "report card" reads HEALTHY!!

'Tis interesting to compare David to Jay at this age. At 9 months Jay was 18 lbs., 2.5 oz., 29" tall, and his head circumference was 18".

David received his third and last Hepatitis B shot and they took a bit of blood from his foot for the anemia screening. I'll know the results (which should be just fine) tomorrow.

Here are some photos from today:

Compared to Jay at this age two years ago:

And I'll end with a photo of me at 9 months of age, just for fun.

Update on the Boys

David (9 months old, March 12)

• Pulls up to standing on anything and everything including our legs, chairs, couch, toys, dressers, tub, toilet (so making sure the toilet seats are down!), cupboards,...well, you get my drift.
• Enjoys pounding/playing the "drums" on the toilet seats. Watched him throw both hands joyously in the air after playing an especially good solo the other day.
• He can walk, but just doesn't know it yet. He always has his hand on something to give him support and comfort, but really he could move between objects without touching if he wanted. Glad he isn't so sure of himself quite yet giving me a few extra days of a non-walker in the house.
• Can crawl SUPER FAST
• Follows Jay and me EVERYWHERE in the house. His preference is to be with Jay during play time. When he is hungry or tired, he prefers me (surprise, surprise).
• Enjoys dumping out the lego box best. Oh the fun loud noises the legos make when they hit against each other and as they fall on the floor!
• Loves to take sips of water out of Jay's straw cups
• Sits in his booster seat chair for all of his meals now (and loves it!)
• Still eats the homemade pureed food I make for meals, but loves to feed himself bits of food including cooked carrots, cooked broccoli bits, zucchini bread, banana bread, chicken bits with rice, Cheerios, Kix
• Babbles, squeals, makes sing-song-y tunes, and makes fun noises with his mouth (clicks tongue, etc.); increasingly more "verbal" in those ways
• Generally sleeps 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. (he wakes up and after gentle patting goes back to sleep); wakes again at 4:00 a.m. (HUNGRY) so he nurses and then goes back to sleep until 6:30 or 7:00 a.m.
• Has almost transitioned completely to sleeping in his crib (which is in the same room as Jay). I've been reluctant to move him out of the bassinet in the master bedroom closet in order not to wake Jay in the night, but because of David's increased mobility and his size, it's time. In fact, the jig has been up for quite some time but I'm just getting around to getting serious about moving him to the crib. (My baby isn't a baby any more!)
  

Jay (2 years, 9 months, 12 days old today)

• As you know from the last post, enjoys singing "E-I-E-I-O" and having us sing to him "Jesus Loves Me," "This Little Light of Mine," "The B-I-B-L-E," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and any others songs that come to our mind.
• Says lots of words now: wa-wa (water); peas (please); tank ooo (thank you); yes; no; more; Dadda/Daddy; Mama/Mommy; Nana; PopPop; Nana's house (he loves talking about going to Nana's house or Nana and PopPop's house); so (slow); fa (fast); mall (he likes to go to our shopping mall); bull (we've watched the cowboys ride the bucking bulls a few times on the ESPN channel); "huh?" or "hmm?"- equivalent to "what" and yes, he has hit the "what?" stage saying "huh?" "hmm?" or "what?" to almost everything you say/tell him which can get annoying at times; calls David "baby" almost all the time and will call baby "Day-day" if you get him to say baby's name; Jay DOESN'T tell you his name, (I've never heard him say his name before) but if asked how old he is he quickly answers, "two!" Instead of saying the names of animals, he still just makes their sound ("moo" for cow; "baa" for lamb/sheep; "bak bak" for chicken; etc.).
• Enjoys playing with his toys all morning - especially with his trucks and legos and trains.
• Talks his own words that don't make any sense almost non-stop if he isn't saying "real" words.
• Started going "pee" in his potty a few weeks ago. When asked/prompted he usually will try going pee on his potty which is great. We sing songs and read books while waiting for "pee" to happen. Sometimes after trying for a while he'll look at me, shake his head no, and say, "No pee, Momma" with a sad look on his face. Having him tell me he needs to go pee before he pees in his diaper hasn't happened, but we are one step closer to being potty trained!
• Has a cool new Ford GT Concept Coupe on a 1:24 scale on the back of the toilet to motivate him to go "poo" in his potty. He can't have it or play with it until that happens, so it remains there for now.

A Musical Performance by Jay

A musical selection by Jay

(2 years, 9 months old):

(If you didn't figure it out already, this is his rendition of Old McDonald Had A Farm - with a moo moo here and a moo moo there...)

*Sorry for the dark video. This was taken spur of the moment at 7:00 p.m. when it was almost dark out and I didn't have much light in the room yet.