9 month old stats

This is my 2nd post of the day.

WARNING: This is a long post mainly for family and record keeping.

I love this photo of Jeremy and Vance at the local nautre center because Vance has a huge grin while Jeremy looks like he's scared of what Vance might do to him. It's like that around here most days because Vance is strong and is often found swinging his arms at us. Poor thing has no idea that he is hurting us. :)

Ok. We went to the doctor a week early for Vance's 9 month check-up. The office was booked for his actual birthday, so they told me to come early since he didn't need shots.

Before I give you Vance's 9 month old stats, let me say that he is probably the biggest baby we've ever seen. Oh, and I hate it when complete strangers make comments about how big he is. I guess I take it personally since I birthed him. :) I know he's healthy, but why do people feel like they have the right to make derrogatory comments about his weight. Oh well. That's something I need to get over.

Vance at 9 months old:

Height - 31 inches (above 97th percentile)
**Samuel was tall but only 29 inches at this age.
Weight- 23 lb. 5 oz. (90th percentile)
**Samuel was only 19 lb. 5 oz. at this age.
Head- HUGE (90th percentile)

We've been seeing a new doctor for a couple of months, and I just love him. He's been in practice for a long time, and he has been my answer to prayer with Vance's issues. The doctor had nothing but good things to say about Vance, so that's good. He said that Vance is now free to eat anything but citrus, tomatoes, and eggs, so I am hoping to start table food soon. I have to admit it makes me nervous and will probably happen at night when Jeremy is home (at least at first).

Now let me tell you what Vance is up to:

Food: Vance drinks 4 bottles a day (about 24 oz.). He eats cereal and 5 jars of baby food a day. He seems to like stage 2 food including pasta and chicken or turkey. He also loves puffs.

Milestones: I haven't been good about posting milestones with Vance. Sorry, Vance... Vance started sitting up from a crawling position on Monday, March 2, which was at 8 1/2 months. That same day, he started moving forward. I hesitate to say crawling since he's not proficient, but since then, he has been doing the belly crawl and the army crawl. He is on the move! I will be curious to see how long it takes him to be proficient at crawling.

Sleeping habits: Vance sleeps through the night; although illness and teeth have interfered with that a lot since we moved. He also takes two naps a day, which vary from 1 hour to 2 1/2 hours. Some days he tries to nap less than 1 hour, and some of those days he won't go back to sleep... It's funny how the 2nd time around, you are less worried about it. If this had been Samuel I would have tried everything to get him back to sleep, but this time around I just let Vance try to go back to sleep on his own and don't stress when it doesn't happen. Sometimes a poopy diaper is the culprit. Oh, and Vance also surprised me on Monday, March 9 when I went into his room (when he was supposed to be napping) to find him sitting up in his crib and talking. I immediately asked Jeremy to lower his crib a notch. That boy is so tall that I felt like it was unsafe for him to be up so high. So, life is changing for us. I am now aware of things on the floor more than ever since Vance has an older brother who loves to play with coins and small toys. I'm praying for no choking incidents...

Speech: Vance is saying "mama" and "dada" a lot as well as lots of other babble.

Teeth: Vance got two bottom teeth at 7 1/2 months and according to the doctor has 2 upper teeth about to "show themselves". Maybe that explains why he was up at 4:45 AM today with no desire to go back to sleep. He is also giving me problems at nap time; some days he will talk and fuss for 1 hour before he falls asleep??? Needless to say, I am praying for him to cut those teeth soon, so that I get more sleep. After all, he just consistently slept through the night at 7 months old, so I am just getting caught up on lots of lost sleep.

Brotherly love: Lastly, Samuel and Vance are having a grand time together, and I am enjoying watching their relationship develop as Vance gets older. I just can't wait to see the fun they will have!

Discipline: So the doctor told me that now is the time to start disciplining, and then he explained what he meant by that. Vance is already getting into outlets, blinds, etc.... He said to pick Vance up and tell him "no" and then to take him into another room before playing with him. If you play with them right after you tell them not to do something, they think that they will get to play if they do that thing. I thought that was interesting. This is the first doctor to bring up discipline with me.

Likes: Vance loves the paci. He never goes to sleep without, which is something I plan to break him of soon. I am not looking forward to that! Vance enjoys all of his "baby" toys, and he also loves to bang two toys together. He enjoys the exersaucer and the jumperoo. He plays well alone; I am blessed to have him happy playing alone for a long time. This afternoon for about an hour I made cakes and did this post while he played alone. Samuel does the same, but he was at work with Daddy this afternoon. He talks to himself and seems to analyze his toys, which cracks me up. He is one determined boy too. He goes after toys across the room. :)