9 months

Andrew is 9 months (and a few days) old! It is hard to believe how quickly he is growing up. He had his 9 month checkup and weighed 20.30 pounds, which placed him in the 50th percentile. He was 31 inches long, which placed him in the 95th percentile. He is going to be so tall! Andrew is still a really good boy. He eats well and loves to play. His favorite toy right now is the concrete truck that I recently blogged about. We do have some big news...Andrew said his first word. Of course, it was Da-da. He is not even close to saying Mama. He calls for his Da-da all of the time. I told Joey one morning that he had been saying Da-Da on the way to daycare. I told Andrew that Da-da was at work. It hurt Joey so much that Andrew had asked for him when he wasn't there. He said, "That's it, I'm quitting my job."

We have hit a rough patch with his sleeping. He still sleeps pretty well at night...most nights. However, he now understands that we are leaving the room when we put him down. He wants us to stay in the nursery with him. This is a problem for parents who don't like for him to cry it out. I will let him cry for about 3 minutes, but that is all I can take. Right now, we go back in and rub/massage his back until he falls asleep. I'm sure this goes against every parenting book in the world, but it works for us! He is just like his daddy--a sucker for a good back rub.

Andrew has an obsession with pulling ears and noses. He is a little rough, though. He also is still mesmerized by Ralph. He rolls to Ralph and tries to pet him, but Ralph is of course too quick. On the rare occasion that Ralph will allow Andrew to pet him, Andrew is gentle with him. Unfortunately, his love for ears ultimately gets the best of him. He ends up grabbing Ralph's ear, and Ralph takes off.

Andrew ate his first finger food last night. He had 3 puffs. He did not seem to enjoy them that much. I loved watching him chew with his mouth open, but he made a terrible face as he swallowed them. Tonight, he seemed to enjoy them more.

Last night, we bought a "big boy" carseat. It is still rear-facing, but it is a much larger convertible seat. Even though the infant seat goes up to 23 pounts, Andrew is so long that his feet were hanging off the edge. He looks so big in his new seat. It makes me a little sad.

Andrew rolls all over the place. He can move so fast now that you can't take your eyes off of him. He seems to have no desire to crawl. He does not get on his knees, rock, etc. He seems happy just to roll!

In other non-Andrew news:
**My brother's wedding was great. I will post about that soon.
**Today was my last day with my students.
**Baby Glasgow 2 has a check up tomorrow, so I will update about that as well.