The Fletcher Family: Nine Months Old

Amazing! Our boy is moving out of babyhood and into toddlerhood. I can't believe it. He is truly an amazing gift; we are so grateful to be his parents. We haven't had his nine month well check yet, so I'll update with his "stats" after we go.

Food

He is eating oatmeal cereal, finger foods, two servings of fruits and veggies a day and drinking between 28 and 32 ounces of formula. He has an occasional water with a little juice bottle, but it's not really his favorite. We've tried plain yogurt and tofu, but he's not too interested in those either. We're getting ready to try cubed lean meat like turkey and chicken. He has just started holding his own bottle.

Sleeping

He sleeps about 12 hours at night and takes two 1.5 hour naps. He goes to bed around 6:30 and wakes up anytime between 5:00 and 6:00. Luckily, he doesn't wake up in the night too much anymore. When he does, I let him fuss a little bit and he usually falls back to sleep.

Play

As I've stated many times before, the kid has more energy than the Energizer Bunny. He plays hard and fast. He enjoys banging things; crawling over everything (Trey calls it off-roading); climbing into things; throwing spoons, bottles, etc. and watching me and Trey fetch them for him (just started this - he LOVES this game but it gets old real quick for Trey and I); playing peek-a-boo; and exercising his voice (screaming and whispering baba, mum-mum-ma, dada, ahh-ahhh-ahh). We also play a game we've named So Big. Trey and I say, "How big is Holden?" Holden raises his arms above his head and we say, "Sooooo big!" Holden also growls like a lion. If we growl first, he responds back with a growl. We think he learned it from a little girl named Aine at daycare. She loves to growl, and we think she's passed this on to our little one.

Development

Holden is a big boy. Last time we went to the doctor (a month ago) he was 20 pounds and 29 inches long. He's wearing 12-18 month tops and 12 month pants. He's got a long torso and short legs like his dad. He is also wearing 12-18 month shoes. We're not quite sure where he's getting all this BIG, Trey and I are not big people. He has five teeth, three of which have come in the last week. His teeth are in funny places. He has his two bottom middle teeth and one just to the right of those. On the top, he is missing his four middle front teeth but has the two on either side of those. Fangs. He's still walking with his walker, and is starting to let go of the furniture and just stand there. I think his longest no hands stand was about 4 seconds. He's a funny, funny kid.