No, he's not crawling (although he does a highly effective barrel roll), but the guy is most certainly on the move. Parenting an infant/baby/whatever you call a 9 month old is an exercise in flexibility and openness to change. I am not a particularly shining example of either of these qualities, but Yogi seems happy to help me with that. Thanks buddy. ;) I imagine that at some point I will cease to be amazed when yet another thing changes from day to day (minute to minute?), but I haven't gotten there yet.
The big shifts on my mind at the moment include:
- Hair Pulling - Wow. How did THAT happen? Yogi went from a little dude who liked to roll my hair between his fingers and grab it gently when it passed within reach, to a hair yanking maniac. That's a bit harsh, but suddenly he has developed one hell of a grip AND an unfortunate interest in hair that is not mine. At storytime earlier in the week I was admiring the way he seemed so adorably engaged with the little girl sitting to our left, when out of nowhere he developed a Go Go Gadget arm and went straight in for the grab. In truth he really only tugged and the little girl didn't even seem to mind, but I did. Not cool. The related trouble with this is that Yogi finds my attempts to stop this behavior (usually taking his hand, making eye contact and saying "no" in a firm voice) to be HILARIOUS. Seriously. Belly laughs. So, what to do? Anyone have ideas? I'm serious. Help.me.
- Dropping a Nap - This is an excellent development. Yogi has always been a three a day, 45 minutes or less kind of guy. I have never loved this as it makes getting out of the house and planning things with other people more of a challenge. Over the course of the last few weeks, he has taken to extending the post lunch nap to well beyond an hour. On one occasion he went for two although that has only happened once. I still remember it fondly though. ;) What is more typical is a 1.5 hourish afternoon nap, which has left him with less of a need for a late afternoon snooze. All of that to say, I think we are heading towards yet another schedule. The early morning nap around 8 and the early afternoon nap in the neighborhood of 1. This feels like a lot of freedom.
- Staying up Later - There was a time when Yogi was barely able to stay awake until my wife got home from work. She gets home at about 5:15. He's been going longer and longer until one night last week we looked up and the clock said 7:30. My how the times have changed. These days we're following his cues and getting ready for bed when he shows us the signs (usually around 7), but setting 7:30 as the hard stop bedtime. Signs or no signs the kid is heading for bed by 7:30. I mean, he is only 9 months old. This staying up thing is leading to other changes because we have always eaten after Yogi goes to bed. I'm not sure I've mentioned it here, but I am a senior citizen in the meal department and an 8 o' clock dinner is WAY too late for me. So, we are making the move towards family dinner. I'm sure there will be more on this transition later.
- Eating - Although we have taken some baby steps lately (He is totally into bread products, but that could be related to teething (is he really eating or just gnawing?) and he seems vaguely interested in peas - weird) Yogi is all about milk. Only milk. At our last appt with Dr. Wonderful he was entirely unconcerned and reassured us that Yogi would let us know when he's ready, but shouldn't he be ready by now? I mean, really. He's 9 months old. We offer food almost every day (sweet potatoes, banana, avocado, oatmeal) but it just hasn't really clicked for him. He'll sit in his chair and open his mouth, but he won't swallow. Most of the time whatever it just dribbles out of his mouth. No spitting, just a look of deep confusion and a kind of slow drain. Hoping that the family dinner thing will serve as the training wheels he's been needing.
5 comments:
The family dinner may helpmwith the eating because he will be able to see you doing it and you'll be setting an example. HP lovesssss peas!
Ouch to the hair pulling
So you've given him bread and peas...have you tried other finger foods he can feed himself? Curly was never into spoon-feeding at that age. We gave him large pieces of fruit he could NOM on, as well as baked chicken, pasta, and other chunks of whatever we were eating. I agree with Jessie that if you all eat together, he might get more interested in copying you.
We have tried both spoon feeding and just setting out little bits on his tray that he can grab with his hands. He mostly just plays with the food that way. Occasionally something does drift to his mouth though, so I guess that's progress.
I'll be interested to hear about the family dinner thing. Like you, we are eating at like 8, which means I usually have to have a snack while I'm feeding Essie her dinner. It seems impossible to get our shit together to have an actual meal together by 6 when we feed her.
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