9 & 10 Months

Yep, I missed posting about 9 months.  It's always hard. I never know if I should post right when he changes ages, or wait until the Dr. Visit so that I have some impressive stat to go along with the post.  Well in this case, we just breezed past all of those milestones.  With family visiting, and other things it just kind of snuck on by.  At his 9 mo. Check Anders weighed a little over 19 1/2 pounds.  The growing definitely slows down at this age, and its more about all the little gross motor, fine motor development. He claps at everything. It's adorable.  If he sees someone clapping, he must join in, whether its on t.v. or in real life.  The other day he was pushing his little walker around, and felt the need to clap.  It was so cute watching him "problem solve" as he tried to figure out how to clap without letting go of the walker and falling down.  He looked back and forth from one hand (palm out in clapping position) to the other (clasped tightly to the handle of the walker).  Finally he decided to let go and sit down on the floor in order to allow him to clap in safety.  What a cutie.  He crawls all over (special thanks to Mason for showing him how it's done) and cruises around holding onto chairs and tables, couches and people's legs.  Basically anything he can pull himself up onto.  He loves to push things, like the end tables, laundry baskets, the ottoman, chairs, etc.  

I have two sets of pillows on my couch.  The first are white square pillows with blue chevron stripes.  The second are round blue pillows covered in ruffles.  Anders hates the ruffles.  The first thing he does when he comes out of his room in the morning is crawl over to the couch and throw the ruffle pillows on the floor.  He never touches the other pillows.  No matter how many times in a day I put them back on he will take them off. Again, and again.  This kid knows what he wants, and is definitely learning how to communicate it. It's so fun to see his little personality.  Anders absolutely loves swimming.  I signed him up for another session of mommy and me swim classes at the fitness center.  It is the highlight of his week. He also loves taking a bath at night.  Splashing in the water is almost as good as swimming.  My favorite part is seeing him stand next to the tub while it is filling up, lifting his leg (trying to step into the tub) and helping me to take his clothes off to get in.  He always helps pull his shirt off over his head, kicks his pants off, and sometimes is even helpful enough take off his own diaper!  I wish he didn't know to do that, because I'm sure it will be an issue as he gets older.  Anders other favorite bathroom activities include unrolling the toilet paper, and emptying all the drawers in my bathroom while I get ready for the day,  he also loves climbing in and out of the shower.  

Anders still loves watching "Oui Oui" and I'm still hopeful that it will help him to learn French.  The only real word he knows and uses consistently is Mom, but I'm pretty sure he is holding out on us, because clay and I have heard him say "pizza" and "bathtub" among others.  The other day in the kitchen, I was pointing to a fly, and telling him "embetant" which means annoying in French. I told him to repeat, and he looked at me and said it.  Or at least he mimicked my intonation and made a three syllable sound that sounded just like it.  It was awesome.

His other tricks include buzzing his lips, clicking his tongue, pointing at everything, and being all around adorable.  He loves to talk to himself in the mirror, read books, throw his toys around his room and stay up way last his bedtime.  

The other day Clay told me about a test done by Elder Perry's (?) parents, and so we tried it.  We sat Anders on the ground, and placed a football and a book equal distances away from him.  We let him go, and he Ran to the book! We did a few more times with different objects, and this kid definitely likes his books.  I guess he is going to be an intellectual. I think clay was a little disappointed that he didn't chose the football, he told me that it doesn't count until the baby's first birthday. So hopefully on his birthday he shows a little more interest in footballs.  He actually does loves balls, and will roll a ball back and forth to me.  He thinks its pretty fun to watch me or clay bounce a basketball or any other ball.

We sure do love this little boy, and are absolutely loving the opportunity we have to watch him grow.