Jack is 9 Months Old!

Jack turned 9 months old on May 8th! Here's what's going on with him lately:

Jack still has no teeth.  He's able to eat soft foods well since babies have very strong gums.  He loves salmon and had salmon, diced strawberries, and mac and cheese for dinner the other night.  He's able to eat everything well and is a good eater.  On Mother's Day I made rosemary chicken, crispy oven potatoes, and roasted carrots for dinner.  

My tiny boy absolutely went nuts for the chicken and the potatoes and just kept shoveling everything in.  I think he ate solidly for about 45 minutes! I was shocked at how long he was eating! He's a fan of mom's cooking, I think! He does a mix of puree's and table food still.  As long as you give him something soft and easy to eat, he'll eat it.  I haven't seen him refuse any food so far.  Jack also loves Ritz crackers for a snack and his eyes get big if you show him the crackers, which is funny to watch.

I'm sad to admit that Jack's favorite person is not me.  He is wild for my husband Jay and if he sees him, his whole face lights up.  I wish I was his favorite person! Even Lynnie loves Jay more than me.  What is it about Jay that is so amazing!? Ha ha.  Jack always gives him a big smile and loves for his dad to hold him.

Since the weather has been warmer, we've been outside a lot more.  Jack loves to be pushed in his swing and will happily be pushed for up to half an hour before saying that's enough.  He enjoys sitting in his bumbo on the grass watching Scarlett play as he takes the world in. Jack is also a fan of his Step 2 blue car which I push him around the neighborhood in.  He's very quiet and rides silently, just loving life.

Jack is still not crawling yet.  Scarlett crawled at 7 months, and he's already 9 months.  I know all babies do things on their own terms, but I do want to bring this up to the pediatrician next week when we go for his appt.  He gets into the crawling position and then one of his legs seems to always get stuck underneath him and he gets frustrated.  I will say that he's a champ at sitting up himself when he's laying down.

I'm actively trying to read to him more, play nursery rhyme songs, and just generally speak to him to build his vocabulary.  Since he's the second child, he's not going to have that one-on-one for learning like Scarlett did.  I'm trying my best to have him know everything he should know!

He loves to babble to himself and has a lot of groans and grunts which I call "dinosaur noises", because he truly sounds like a dinosaur when he does it.  I think it's funny, although Scarlett is not interested! Ha ha!

He is a pretty good sleeper.  He usually wakes up around 6:30 for the day and takes a morning nap by 8:15-8:30.  He wakes up around 10:30 and then has an afternoon nap around 12:30-1.  Then there's a final mini nap around 4, right before dinner.  Jack goes to sleep for the night at 7 pm.  He has a bottle that he wakes up for around 11, and then sleeps through the night after that.  I do wish that we could cut out the 11 pm bottle, but it's still so much better than when he used to wake up at 4.  If we didn't have the quarantine going on, I would have never been able to put him on a schedule.  So I'm looking on the bright side of things and am thankful for that.  

Jack is curious and will roll himself towards an object to touch it.  We have to be careful not to have small toys or pieces around that could be choking hazards.  Scarlett plays with her Polly Pockets which are tiny when he's napping, so he's not awake to try to grab them and put them in his mouth. He is also interested in wires too.  Oh boy.

His helmet is coming off later today which is exciting! Those 10.5 weeks went by fast.

I do wish I was able to socialize Jack more, but I can't because of the virus.  Right before the virus hit we were going to baby playdates and library story-times every week.  Unfortunately, we can't continue that right now.  It would be nice if he was around other babies though.

Jack is still wearing 6-9 month clothes and I'm not sure what he weighs at the moment.  He was 17 lbs at his 6 month appt so I'm sure he's over 20 lbs at this point.

His first birthday is in August and we're hoping to have his fire truck themed party, but only time will tell if we'll be able to.

Can't wait to see what the coming months bring!