The babies are 9 months old today, and this past month has really been a developmental doozy for them. We had to get on top of our baby-proofing efforts, because Addison is officially crawling! Not only has she been crawling now for a couple of weeks, but she is also able to pull herself up from her knees to her feet--our baby is standing on her own! She stands up on the couches, on our ottomans, on some of her toys, on us. She is even able to take a few steps and move tentatively along the couch, or move from one end of the ottoman to the other. Now that she can get up, she's working on getting down, which usually involves taking a calculated fall onto her bum. She's suffered a few bumps and bruises in the process of becoming more mobile, but I guess that's part of the learning process.
Jackson started out this past month as an inch worm, and has ended it by mastering the army crawl. He is an efficient and fast belly crawler. Until about a week ago, he was also totally content to play laying on his back. But recently, he has seen his sister up and about, sitting and standing and crawling, and he has decided he might want to do that too. He is still unable to transition from his tummy or his hands and knees to the sitting position, though he is able to do the opposite--but if placed in the standing position, he's able to stay upright for a long time. He is spending more time on all fours, as opposed to laying on his stomach--I don't think it will be long at all before he is crawling around on his hands and knees.
Addison has really been asserting her independence at the dinner table these past few weeks. She got to the point where she'd hardly let me feed her at all. So, I gave the babies some cereal puffs. It took them a couple of days to master the art of pinching the cereal in their fingers and getting it to their mouths, but before long they were pros. Next, I started steaming or boiling food until it was soft, then cutting it up in to fingertip-size pieces and letting them feed themselves. And they were so ready for it! They probably feed them selves half to two-thirds of every meal now. They usually have blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, or apples and some puffs on their own for breakfast, then I feed them blueberry smoothie and oatmeal--and we have a big dinner, usually potatoes, carrots, peas, and apples on their own, then I feed them a mix of rice cereal, peaches, sweet potatoes, spring vegetable risotto (fancy!), applesauce, or some other fruits or vegetables. The babies are usually good eaters, though Addison is more finicky than Jackson. And all of this food is still along with lots of breast milk (TMI, sorry)--the addition of teeth has made that slightly more complicated, but we're still going strong.
Speaking of teeth, both babies have four teeth, two top and two bottom teeth. Jackson's top right tooth has been taking it's sweet time coming in. The poor boy has been in pain for over a week now--it just seems like it's starting to get a little bit easier on the little guy. The teeth pain has made sleeping tough--we had just gotten into a pretty good routine, when a tooth has to come along and wake us up multiple times per night. Tough duty!
Both babies have been doing some serious growing--they both look taller and chubbier. We have a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks, so we'll soon know exactly how much bigger they are--but honestly, some days I'll look at them and swear they are bigger than they were the previous day. And both babies have more hair coming in, especially Addison--and good thing, I thought we might have bald babies for the indefinite future.
We are so lucky to have babies with such personality. They are really vocal--Jackson has picked up some new sounds this past month, including more g, k, m, n, and r sounds. Sometimes it sounds just like he's responding to a questions you've asked him, and it definitely sounds like he addresses Daniel and me as he says, "dada" or "mama." Addison has becoming more vocal too, doing lots of babbling herself--and she still has quite a set of lungs on her, a scream out of her mouth can make you jump. Addison has been waving for the past couple of weeks--she's gotten to where she will wave hello and goodbye to Daniel and me, as well as wave when she gets excited, when she sees Spud or Mary or Olivia or other friends, when she sees her brother or her reflection--the girl is a waving machine! And Jackson is a giggling fool--you get him in the right mood and he can't stop laughing at a game of peek-a-boo, or if you blow motorboats on his stomach, or you make a goofy kissy sound. And it's contagious--he starts laughing, then you start laughing, which makes him laugh--it's so much fun. Jackson has also decided he likes Eskimo kisses. Is there anything more precious than rubbing noses with a little boy and having him smile and giggle in response? I think not.
