Toby is 9 months old! This feels like a huge birthday to me - he's been out as long as he was cooking. It was another few weeks of dizzying development here in
Toberland. It started on the last day of
February, with Toby making his way to sitting and then pulling up to standing
the same day. Cruising followed just a
few days later, with some coaching from Daddy (who seemed more excited than Mama
to see this happen quickly). I warmed up
to the idea when I saw how happy it made the little guy. We’re catching up with baby-proofing, and
even Violet is adjusting well.
All these milestones in less than a week must have been
exhausting, because soon after Toby got his second cold. This one was thankfully much milder, but
lingered for a good two weeks. Before
the sniffles were gone, he’d figured out how to stand in his crib and the
mattress went down to the lowest level.
There’s something so cute about a baby holding himself up and peeking
through the crib slats at you.
Unfortunately he also stopped wanting to go to bed after this – like
flipping a switch, once he knew he could stand in the crib that was ALL he
wanted to do. Trying to get a grumpy,
sleepy baby to go to sleep when he doesn’t think it’s a good idea is not my
favorite thing. We’re just starting to
sort this out a week later. He more than
makes up for it in cuteness, luckily.
The other thing that happened before the cold was completely
gone was the onset of his first stomach bug, the night after his 9-month birthday.
Personally, my worst memories of illnesses as a child are stomach cramps
and vomiting, but Toby didn’t seem to mind this nearly as much as his first
cold. In fact, he quite cheerfully threw
up all over our bed several times and had no trouble falling asleep almost
immediately thereafter. There were only
a few hours of crying that made me suspect cramps. Now he’s been well for two whole days (knock
on wood).
This morning we went in for his 9-month checkup. He definitely got the shorts from his mama
(10th percentile for height this checkup), and his weight ranking is coming
down to meet his height, but his head is still at about the percentile you’d
expect for such a brilliant baby. To help us investigate the more subtle aspects of his growth, we got our first developmental survey to fill
out for him last week. It was fun going
through the questions and testing things we’d never tried before. (Will he try to grab a piece of food that is
stuck inside a clear container?
Yes! Will he hand us a toy if we
ask? No.) As expected it showed he’s ahead in physical
skills and a teensy bit behind in verbal skills. The nurse practitioner assured us it’s normal
to have uneven progress, and warned us he’ll probably be walking before he’s
1. Watch out world!
Although he may have gotten his stature from his mama, his
toothiness seems to come from the other side of the family – Matt apparently
had 7 teeth at 8 months. Toby’s nearly
that precocious, cutting his 8th tooth right now (6 & 7 arrived last week, just after his 9-month birthday). This will even him up to four on top, four on
bottom. Really helpful when you’re
interested in gnawing the leather off the piano bench. Seriously. We spend a lot of our time trying to prevent it.
Interesting oral and aural experiments seem to come along
with new teeth. He can occasionally be
heard grinding them, and is babbling up a storm. His favorite noise to make is now “dadada.”
He usually says it right away when he wakes up,
extra-sweetly. This new excitement about
making sound happened at the same time as a new fascination with hearing the
funny ones we make. He especially likes
raspberries, chickie-chickie, and the sound “boo.”
In other milestones, he ripped his first page out of a book
this weekend. And almost ripped the
second page out right after that. I taped
it up so you can hardly tell in the picture, but you CAN tell what was on
my mind on Saturday morning…
Other interesting things going on at our house… We’re working on teaching Toby sign language,
and I think he understands “drink,” but he’s not using any signs himself
yet. He’s got limitless enthusiasm for
taking his socks off. He’s started
eating some grownup food – roast potatoes from our fantastic chicken dinner was
the start, followed by chunks of banana and some lentil stew. Yesterday he even had scrambled egg, and
LOVED it. Thank goodness, because pureed
beans were coming right back up, and he needed a protein source.
We’ve had a lovely winter and enjoyed the snow thoroughly. It's even snowing tonight.
But since it’s mid-March, we’re starting to think about
warmer weather ahead. One of the best
ways to celebrate the imminent spring in this part of Michigan is to visit the
tropical butterfly exhibit at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. It was a fun family outing. Toby liked the plants the best – they hold
still while you try to convince your mama to let you eat them – but he liked the butterflies he glimpsed.
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