Keaton at Nine Months

Nine months! 75% of a year! I feel like it was a huge month for us--its like something clicked in his little brain and he decided he was going to have his own opinions and do his own thing!



He's definitely a little guy--he weighs 17 lbs 9 oz (15%) and is 28 inches long (34%). His head is average at 45 cm (50%). He's built like Finley--lean and scrawny. It's cute. He has more hair then either boy did and its starting to have some serious curl in the back... I still can't tell if its going to be like Finley or Braden's! Sol is always saying that it has a bit of red in it, and I think he might be right.



Sleeping has improved a bit. Yay! I started being a bit more strict on putting him down for naps awake rather than nursing him first and it helped a ton. Sometimes it takes some time to get him to sleep, but he normally sleeps longer--and it seemed to help with his night time sleep. He generally takes two hour long naps and sometimes a third if the day started early. He's going to be around 8 and gets up between 6 and 8--it's really unpredictable. He's started having more nights where he only wakes up once which is AMAZING. Hopefully we can just keep continuing on that track!



His gross motor skills have really taken off. He finally decided that he was ok with sitting and doesn't actively resist us getting him to sit. He doesn't topple over anymore and can almost get him self to sitting from his belly.



He still scoots around on his belly--just like his brothers. They've all been really late crawlers even though they clearly have the crawling skills! He gets up on his hands and knees and will crawl a few steps--and then flop on his belly and scoot like crazy. I think he just knows he's faster at scooting!



He pulls up on everything. Everything. We've unfortunately reached the part of life where his head is always bruised and battered. It's so hard to figure out how to get down from standing without just toppling. He loves to play at the kitchen drawer with all the kids cups and bowls and will stand there until he can't anymore.



He loves LOVES his brothers and really wants to be doing whatever they are doing. Braden has a tough time dealing with Keaton's admiration of him and has to be monitored pretty closely. Finley is pretty protective of him--he'll make little pillow landings at the bottom of the step down to the family room so Keaton won't get hurt coming over and will lay in front of doorways to prevent Keaton from escaping. It's very sweet!



His eating is still iffy--he seems to be pretty sensitive and will throw up if he gets hurt badly and is upset or if he doesn't like what's going on. I try to get him to eat cereal and applesauce for breakfast and yogurt for lunch and dinner--supplemented with a variety of finger foods at every meal. He seems to prefer puff type things, so I've bought a bunch of freeze dried food that he kind of likes. I have to remind myself that he'll eat someday--I just really wish he loved eating like Braden did! While he won't take a bottle--he does enjoy drinking from the new sippy cup I got him.



He still doesn't mind hanging out in the Moby and is doing a bit better in the car. It's so crazy that all these boys keep growing up. I can't believe one day he's going to be running around playing Batman and trains and telling me everything that's on his mind. I kind of can't wait!