Andrew has started dancing by the way. When he stands up at his new toy and it plays music, he dances. He has always loved music.
Sometimes during meals, when I'm feeding him with a spoon, he tries to help. I hang onto the spoon while he grabs it and brings it to his mouth. If he doesn't let go, I then dip the spoon back in food and let him take it to his mouth again. But before long, he tries to bang the spoon or swing it or something which can get messy so I take his hand off.
Here is a video I mentioned a while ago of him chasing the vacuum cleaner. Any time I vacuum, he chases me around the entire house.. sometimes screaming at it. Its so funny.
When Andrew helps me do laundry, I put him in the basket, throw all the clothes needing to be washed in with him, and then push the basket down the hallway to the laundry room. Then when its time to get stuff out of the dryer, like in this picture, Andrew gets in the basket and then we empty the dryer, and he gets pushed back down the hallway to go fold the clothes. Sometimes he gets to just ride on top.. sitting on his hands and knees. He seems to enjoy it.
Here is his new play station. He is standing at it a lot now which is great. Sorry the one picture is blurry. I'll never get the hang of a regular point-and-shoot camera.
Another of his latest activities is to try and crawl under and through things. He has gotten trapped under his high chair and his Jeep a few times. He has crawled through my legs for a while, but he is venturing on to other tunnels finally.
Flash has been sick with an upper respiratory infection the past week and a half. Usually Flash is a little angel when it comes to dealing (putting up with) Andrew, who yanks, tugs, drags, and squashes the poor cat. Well, being sick, he was just too tired to take it one day. He scratched Andrew. Andrew had a look on his face like, "what just happened?!" Then he went back to beating on Flash and Flash used both paws and latched onto Andrew's arm. Andrew flipped and then when daddy stood up Flash freaked that he was about to get in serious trouble.
When I need to wash his hands and feet but dont feel like giving him a full bath, I take him to the bathroom sink. I try to get him to sit on the edge so I can clean his hands and feet, but he always tries to scoot in and sit in the bowl with the water. So.. for the sake of some cute pictures, I let him last night.
Andrew wants to type something:
nnnb%&JG ggggggggghhh m, m n y5rtt tbvfg h
I want to add that I just love that my son has no idea what to do with a phone.. but he knows what a mouse and keyboard are for!
It has been a few days since we took his 9 month pictures, but I'm finally posting them. I have been wanting to get pictures of Andrew wearing just a diaper and daddy's necktie with his computer and a phone since Andrew was sitting up. I haven't had a chance until now.
In other news.. Andrew is starting to 'cruise' around. Just a little bit.. he is still cautious. Cruising is when he stands up and walks while holding on to something - like the new couch, or his crib rails. He still prefers to sit down, crawl to the next point of interest, and stand back up. Today I bought two new toys for him to encourage standing and walking. One is a little activity table, and the other is a little push toy that I guess is supposed to be an old fashioned mailbox. He was interested in them at the consignment store, but not so much once we got home. Another hour or so and he started standing up at the activity table. As for the push-mailbox, he is more interested in sitting and playing with the wheels. I did walk him down the hallway with it to give him the idea.. it will come with time. No hurry certainly.
For lunch today, we went to a Japanese sushi buffet. I wasn't interested in the sushi so I ate other random things. Andrew had been really grumpy this morning (as was I since he had me up at 2am, 4am, and ready to go at 6am.) I thought getting out of the house would be good for him.. and I was right. He had a blast! First the kid store, and then lunch! He loves to eat. The waiter took to him too. He sat next to the high chair and played with him, asked if he could hold him, walked around to a couple of other tables with him. Andrew was enjoying every minute of it. He was also fascinated by the Japanese family sitting a couple of tables away. When we first sat down, Andrew was just having fun at our table. When the family started speaking in Japanese, he whipped his head around and just stared.. and stared.. and smiled and stared. Everyone there was really nice and didn't seem bothered by sitting near a baby. He wasn't loud. But he did turn himself sideways in his chair so he could stare at the Japanese family.. and then he'd turn, grab some food off the table, shove it in his mouth and go back to staring. lol Such a cutie.
He got a little cat nap in the car on the way home which meant I wasn't going to get a chance to nap this afternoon at all. I have been suffering from sheer exhaustion lately. It literally seems difficult to just walk - never mind pick him up, do our usual activities, cook, clean, etc. But I'm sticking it out and doing my best. I'm so grateful to have a good kid - even as busy as he is and as tired as I am - it certainly could be worse. Tonight he ate a ton of food.. and then fell asleep during his bedtime bottle. When I put him in his crib though - he tried to pretend he wasn't tired and immediately sat up and started chatting. But sleep prevailed.. he was out in less than 10 minutes. He's so funny.. he'll be dozing and if you ask, "are you going to sleep?" It is like he jolts and tries to be more alert so he doesn't fall asleep.
Andrew weighed in at his pediatrician appointment at 21lbs 4oz, and was 30" tall. He is finally back on the chart for height in the 95th percentile which means he must have slowed down a tiny bit. He also got his heel pricked to have his iron tested. I was bracing myself for a meltdown because he was an hour and a half overdue for a nap still and he was definitely tired. He didnt even flinch! No cry, no whimper or whine! I had given him his sippy cup and he just happily played with that. He was being amused that after he sucked on it and took it away from his mouth that it would make a drawn out squeak. Yeay! Hi iron level was a little low. Its supposed to be at least 11 and was in the 9 range. So I had to go to Walgreens and pick up an iron supplement for him.
Wednesday night at the hall he did really well for the first half of the meeting. The second half I was up and down constantly. He'd squirm and fuss when I was sitting, and the second I stood up he'd be happy. The past few meetings he has been 'learning' that getting up actually isnt fun afterall. He just hasnt fully gotten that point yet. I get up and go around the corner and reprimand him the first few times and immediately go back to the seat. Then he starts getting swatted when I get up. Then he gets swatted at the seat which of course leads to tears so I am getting up to quiet him. A few times I can't help but laugh which I'm sure doesnt help my case.. but I know the persistence will pay off long-term. Sometimes he giggles all the way to the back. Once I sat him on the literature counter so I could look him in the face, and he bobbed his head frm side to side trying to see around me. I had to grab his cheeks and make him stare me in the face. He looked startled by that. It was pretty funny. A lot of people commended me for my efforts last night and encouraged me to keep with it. I know it works .. eventually. I'm not worried about it and I have a lot of patience and he wasnt wearing on that. I just feel bad for everyone around us! Because of this training, tough, we no longer sit in the second row. We target the back row which is far more toxic for me and is taking its toll physically for sure. I am so sick by the time we get home.
He squats sometimes now rather than just sitting all the time. And he'll dance a little bit when you hold his hands to let him stand up. He is a lot more cautious about falling or being upside down. He also does something funny.. its like he's saying "baabaabaa.." over and over again but its really fast; he almost shakes his bottom jaw to do it.Whenever I vacuum.. he literally chases the vacuum around yelling at it. I have a video, but haven't gotten it off the camera yet. Soon.
Well, three days in a row Andrew has hit his head. First was when he was reaching for the toilet paper and then I startled him by speaking to him. He fell and hit the right side of his forehead on the corner of the vanity. That was Tuesday.
On Wednesday, when we were getting ready for meeting, he literally dove off the bed and landed on his head. He has a big bump in the middle of his forehead from that adventure.
Thursday afternoon, he "tripped" over something on the floor and fell over and hit the left side of his forehead on the floor. It didn't bruise and bump, but was red for a while.
I took him to the chiropractor Thursday evening to get adjusted. I'm so glad I did, his neck was way out.
Also on Thursday he learned a new game with Nana. Here is the video:
This week it has been (and will continue to be) in the mid-90's which lends itself will to playing in the pool when Daddy gets home. You can kind of see the bumps and bruises on his forehead.. poor guy.
Andrew doesn't need many, thats for sure. He is much more interested in common household goods.. like our slippers, shoe laces, the wheels on his stroller, a tupperware bowl and lids, a plastic tub, door knobs... and toilet paper.
Lately he has been opening and closing (and ultimately leaving open) the bottom drawer in the guest bathroom where I store extra rolls of toilet paper. Today was the first day he decided to pull some out to play. Two different times I came in to take it away from him. The third picture was the second time. Of course I grabbed my camera first before taking the paper away. (oh and notice the tipped over trash can.. he likes to bang on those)
He has also been having fun playing with a long sheet of brown packing paper. He and Flash take turns playing with it on the kitchen floor. As well as the blue plastic tub.
Flash also competes for Andrew's blankets and some of his toys. Flash is sooo well behaved when it comes to being tormented by Andrew. Flash just collapses in front of Andrew and then Andrew drags him across the floor by his tail, smashes Flash's ear into his fist, and grabs wads of hair from his back. Flash only snapped back the very first time that happened.. I'm guessing by my reaction of getting Andrew in trouble and loving up on Flash made him realize that this is a learning experience for the baby still. He never pulls his claws out or hurts Andrew despite the torture he receives himself. I'm always on my toes trying to protect the cats. Tripod just runs anytime Andrew gets near. Flash wants to play with Andrew.
Andrew is still a good eater as long as other people aren't around. He will eat anything! He's even tried jalapenos and pepperoncinis, and bread dipped in fresh garlic with olive oil and balsamic vinegar! He did make a little bit of a sour face with the bread, but nothing else seems to phase him. He wants whatever I am eating. Today he was helping me make homemade salsa for daddy. When it got to the taste testing part.. LOL .. I dipped a chip in the salsa, bit off half of it and thought about the flavors I was tasting in my mouth to see if it needed something more. Andrew then takes my hand with the half eaten chip by gently and meticulously placing two fingers on either side of the chip, slowly brings the chip to his mouth, and nibbles a tiny piece of chip. Then with a very blank and serious expression looks off into the distance like he is mulling over whatever flavor he was tasting in his mouth. LOL he is hilarious!
Last week when I was feeding him, I sucked in my cheeks to make a fish face at him. It was hard for me not to laugh each time because the expression on his face is like, "hey! thats neat, do it again! I want to figure this out!" ... Well, he has figured it out. After every bite of his carrots this afternoon I got the fish face. He's been doing it off and on for a few days now, but I finally caught it!
He went after the toilet paper again this evening. I got my camera ready and hid in the hallway in case he checked to see if I was looking.
Unfortunately.. as he was reaching for the paper in that fifth picture.. I said his name. He immediately whipped around (sixth picture) and then fell forward and hit his forehead on the corner of the vanity. He has a huge bump and bruise on his forehead now. My immediate distraction for him was to take him to the kitchen sink and let him play with the faucet, which he loved. He loves water. Then we went and got the mail, then I stripped him down and put him in a baby tub on the deck. I can only imagine the headache he had though.
He LOOOOOVES the water. His bathtime now is letting him play in the full-sized tub. He will even let me use the shower on him. But he rolls all over the place he gets so excited. Then he pulls himself up on the side and falls backward. And of course splashing the entire time. So cute.
He's also been in the pool I think three times now. This last time, Ted was swimming under water, and I'd skim Andrew across the top alongside daddy as if they were racing. Andrew was kicking his legs and swinging his arms with all his might, and bobbing his head in and out of the water, and laughing hysterically all the way while watching daddy. Its like he knew he was racing. He sure has fun in the pool.
Another thing Andrew does a lot lately is blow raspberries. He'll come up and blow on my legs, on my shoulders, my hands. He also gives raspberries to some of his toys. I think he tried to give Flash raspberries today too. lol
He also tries to pull himself up on everything. He pushes boxes and his Jeep, and he walks along the edge of his crib. I think he's only taken a few steps hanging on to the couch.
One thing that impresses me about Andrew is his hand eye coordination. He is so meticulous when it comes to touching detail. Yesterday we had lunch with my grandmother and he was tracing the yellow squiggly lines on the napkin with his pointer finger. When he wants the tail of his lion head toy or the mouse toy.. he is very particular and careful at grabbing just the tail with his thumb and forefinger. He's precise.
I dont sit and babysit him yet. I try to be wary of whats on the floor in our house, and what is at his eye level that he might try to pull down or pull up on that could ultimately hurt him. If it will just scare him and only slightly hurt, I leave it (like tipping the box fan that sits on the floor in my room on top of himself.. it doesn't really hurt him, but scares him.) I know whats in each room and I am pretty good at discerning exactly where he is and what he is playing with based on the sounds I hear. Only once have I heard him crawl down the hallway and not hear exactly where he went. That was yesterday when I was in his room collecting a few things to pack into his diaper bag to take to lunch with us. I walk down the hallway and put them next to his bag and then start calling him with no answer. He didn't fall down the stairs - i'd have heard that. He wasn't at the front or back door looking out.. where did he go?! Then I saw Tripod sitting in the hallway. I knew exactly where Andrew was at that second... in MY bathroom. Thats where Tripod sleeps during the day to stay away from Andrew. lol Sure enough, Andrew is standing up looking in the tub and no doubt wishing he was in it. He often scrambles in there to play and peer over the side of the tub. The only thing I'm afraid of in there is him falling or even purposely sitting and hitting his head on the toilet. I think that would hurt a lot!
It has been a while since I've been able to post! I dont know that I will remember everything; it has been busy. Andrew turned 8 months old on May 17th.. he's growing up so fast, but I'm loving this age!
Andrew had been getting around in his own way for a while, but it was May 12th that I realized he wasn't crawling on his tummy anymore, he was actually crawling for real. He is certainly delighted with his newfound ability. I love being able to hear his hands and knees smack the floor as he crawls, or the shuffling sound he makes across carpet.
We have had to move the cat food off the floor since he is so eager to have it. He also chases Flash around laughing the entire time. Yesterday he got Flash's collar from off the floor and was waving it around. Flash of course associates his collar with being allowed outside - so he was trying to figure out how to get it back from Andrew.. it was pretty funny to watch their interactions. Flash is sooo good with him. He lets Andrew chase him, and gently tells Andrew when he's not being nice, and then he gets out of reach when he's had enough. (notice he is eating catfood in the picture below)
I bought a baby gate at a yard sale weeks ago to put at the top of the stairs that go down into the studio, but I can't get it to be tight all the time. I dont trust it. But Andrew has always been fascinated with that doorway and what's down there. Twice this week I have stood at the stairs ready to catch him, but letting him investigate them on his own still. The first time he realized the change in depth.. the second time he was so distracted by Tripod who went running by him that he forgot to look and would have fallen down the stairs if I hadn't been ready to catch him.
He likes to sit and play with the air return vent in the hallway. It doesn't latch properly anymore so it makes a lot of noise when he bangs on it because the bottom of the door is loose. That and he can make interesting sounds by running his fingers down the outside of it.
He is still fascinated with the vacuum cleaner. Today he pushed it back and forth in the hallway for a long time, and eventually moved it into the bathroom. Which, by the way, he loves sitting in the guest bathroom. I dont know if its because he hears his voice echo differently or not, but he loves being in there.
He also likes to sit in front of the bookshelf in his room and pull the books and toys off to play. He is really good and content playing by himself most of the time. But I love watching him.
He loves it when you clink your teeth together, or cluck your tongue.
He likes to scream.. Ted and Andrew will just go back and forth going "Aaaah!" and laughing.
Ted also started 'running' with Andrew. He'll start him off walking, and then go faster and faster until Andrew is practically galloping across the floor. Its hilarious! He wont do it when I have the camera out, but I'll try to catch it soon. But Andrew LOVES it.. he has such a great laugh too. He makes us so happy.
On May 23rd we took him in the pool for the first time. It was over 90 degrees outside that day so the air was still warm even though the sun was close to setting behind the house. He LOVED it! Today it was cooler in the evening so I put a shallow bucket of water on the deck for him. He sat on the outside and splashed his hands in it so much he was soaked from head to toe, and he enjoyed every minute of it. He sure loves the water!
He is making his way out of his 9 month clothes and into 12 month. The four long, slender short-sleeved onesies he has still seem to fit okay, but nothing else in that size does. But several pairs of the 12 month pants we had for him are too small, while one of them is too long! I dont get it! Nothing seems consistent. His jammies are 18 month sized. They are a little long in the torso for him, but the feet are the right size. They should be the perfect size in another month or so the way he is growing. Each month, we stand him in the doorway of his room and use a ruler to mark his height. He grew a good inch and a half at least from 7 months to 8 months!
The other day I went in his room to get him, and I could tell he wanted to try and stand up so I ran to get my camera. He's so cute. Of course, after he got up he was so excited he jumped in his bed and hit his mouth on the side which resulted in a flood of tears. Poor munchkin. Click on the picture to see it larger.
He looks so mischievous in this picture.. it cracks me up:
VIDEOS:
Andrew having fun in his Jumperoo:
Andrew Crawling down the hallway (he can crawl way faster than this):
Andrew Drumming on Papa's drum:
Andrew playing with the toys in his room:
Andrew playing with the vacuum cleaner. (he moved it all the way into the bathroom by himself yesterday and kept going in there to play with it):
Did you know that there are REUSABLE swim diapers out there?! I guess its along the lines of using cloth diapers and being eco friendly and all.. but I didn't even know they existed! I found them in the One Step Ahead catalog I got in the mail. I am loving their stuff!
I'm considering buying Andrew the little baby splash pad. Although.. he can just sit and play in a bucket of water and be happy - its not like he needs the splash pad. And hooking it up to the hose would be a nuisance for me. We'll see. But the swim diapers... now that would be a good investment I think. Lots of fun stuff there. Glad we're not going to the beach this year - I'd have been tempted to buy some of this stuff. Here is their website if you want to see what I'm talking about.
We survived Andrew's first fever episode. He was burning hot last night. At first I thought he was just hot because he'd had a screaming episode while Ted and I took the pool cover off last night. But a couple of hours later he was still hot so I took his temperature and it was 101.3. He hadn't eaten well all day either, and for the first two hours of bedtime he wasn't sleeping soundly. I think it was around 10pm we tried to get him to eat a little more, changed him into more comfy pjs that had been in the washer when we put him to bed, and then sat with him a little bit to make sure he'd settle into sleep. He wasn't rolling around in bed like he usually does, but he was whimpering.
Neither of us got good sleep. I had our fan set to low just to have some background static, but I wanted to make sure I could hear any little whimper Andrew made just in case it sounded off. He cried at 1am but stopped by the time either of us could drag our feet out of bed. Ted went and checked on him and he was still hot, but he was asleep. This morning his temperature was 99.7 at 7:30 when he got up. His body felt okay, but his head felt hot to the touch.
He slowly made his way through a bottle and then I put him in the stroller and went for a walk. He seemed to enjoy it. Afterward I checked his temperature and it finally came down to normal again. Yeay! I'm hoping it's just from teething. Although he did lick the shopping cart handle at Goodwill of all places yesterday.. ick!
Either way, I think he's better. He's tired, and a little clingy.. but I think it will get better. Grandma comes into town later today, so hopefully he'll be agreeable and rested by then.
On a lighter note.. Andrew is moving his way into 12 month clothes. The 9 months are looking a little short now. Some of the 12 month pants are already too short, and some are just right. I picked up a pair of 18 month size jammies at Goodwill yesterday even though they are a style I dislike. They are just a tad too long, but thats better than the toe crushing ones he's been wearing!
I have a video of him jumping in his jumperoo from the other day, but I need to try and catch a nap while he's down. Just thought I'd post on our overnight adventure of anxiety.
Andrew talked almost nonstop this weekend, and probably walked half a mile. He doesn't want to sit, he wants to walk. I bought him a pair of shoes at goodwill for 99 cents and he is putting them to good use. We were 30 minutes too early for the ministry group Saturday so we walked around the hall for that long. We walked around the house at home. Walked all over the hall on Sunday, then walked all over the playground at the park. For some reason, though, he seems to think he should be able to do it on his own or while only holding one hand. Uhm.. yeah.. that doesn't work sweetie.. you still need both hands.
On Sunday during the meeting he got upset sitting on my lap. I want him to learn to stay at the seat, but he is noisy. So Sunday I scooted him onto the floor and let him play with the straps on the bag and some soft toys. He was fine for a good while. Then he wanted up. He started trying to pull himself up by hanging onto my skirt. Well, he lost his grip and fell backward and whacked his head in the back of the seat in front of us. Which led to a huge wail that got everyone's attention.
After the meeting he was trying to climb the stage steps. At one point he got frustrated I guess. He sat back tensed up his while body bringing his shoulders to his ears and bending his arms and clenching his fists and let out a loud "grrrrr". Then tried again. So funny. He was also crawling across the floor to get people's toes and shoes.
In his jibber jabber he is saying Dadadada a lot, with a few Mamama and Nehnehneh. I'd love to know what he thinks he's saying the rest of the time. Its sounds very interesting.
He still likes to cluck his tongue and occasionally blow raspberries on your hand.
He has two more teeth working their way up from the bottom.
