9 months

These monthly George updates seem to be getting ahead of me but because of my unhealthy fear of forgetting every little thing my children do, I continue to write down these facts that probably seem monotonous to the average reader.  Sorry reader (all two of you).  Here comes another update.   

George is just a busy, busy boy these days.  He is getting into everything and crawls wherever there isn't an obstacle.  He doesn't seem to need me as much as he used to and HATES to be confined to a highchair, crib, swing or car seat when he's awake.  It kind of breaks my heart a little when I just want to snuggle him and he pushes me away only to crawl over to the loaded dishwasher. 

Even when he gets hurt, he won't let me console him.  He will let me hold him for a short three seconds before he's off to find another garbage can or in this case some tampons under the bathroom sink. 

His curiosity has made nursing VERY challenging.  George has completely weaned himself and will angrily push me away when I try to feed him.  It makes me so sad to be ending this phase of babyhood so much earlier than the other babies did.  I'm still determined to give him his breast milk.  I pump 6 times a day and give him the milk in a bottle.  I can tell my milk supply is pretty much drying up because it takes me a whole day and sometimes two to make a single bottle.  I've never been so grateful that I was such a milk hoarder when he was born because I still have about 50 bags frozen in my deep freezer.  I've calculated that with a bottle in the morning and evening, he should make it to his first birthday along with what I'm pumping as well.  We still give him a "sleep feed" not because he needs it but because it was the only time I could get him to nurse with out pushing me away.  Now we just give him a bottle before we go to bed and he sleeps in until 8 or 9 in the morning.  Still snoozing in our dark closet.  I'd sleep in too!

He's still super smiley and happy.  When I take him to the park with Jack I have to contain him in this swing otherwise he'd be stuffing handfuls of pebbles into his mouth.  I still can't understand why he likes chewing on those things. 

He's still a fantastic walking buddy and doesn't make a peep when we got out in the mornings for a few hours.

He really is getting into everything these days.  His favorite things are electric sockets, door stoppers, cords, toilets, paper, printers, magazines, and pretty much anything that's not a toy. 

He is always standing up in his crib now when I go in to get him after a nap.  He pulls himself up onto anything.  I love watching him sit on his knees. 

I love watching him explore but it can be a handful when I need to get things done.  We've had a few occasions when someone forgot to close the bathroom door and I've found him dipping his fingers into the toilet water.  This is especially disgusting because he's still very fond of sucking on his two left fingers. 

He's starting to wear "real people" clothes and it looks as though he may be graduating to a new car seat soon too.  He weighed 17.10 pounds at his 9 month check up.  Still 8th percentile and growing nonetheless.  We don't have to go in for weight checks anymore which means he's able maintain his weight pretty well now. 

Chase calls him "mini John Stockton" in this picture.  I had just changed his diaper and I wasn't ready to put his pants on yet because I still needed to squeeze his little thighs. 

These freezer magnets bought me about ten minutes of cleaning the kitchen time, but that's about all.

He fell down the stairs the other day.  I had no idea he was even up there!!  It was only the first two stairs but it was a serious wake-up call to get some baby gates and watch him like a hawk from now on.

 

We can get him to laugh pretty hard these days and he has developed a fantastic little personality.  He gets really mad if you take something away from him (especially from his mouth), has a little  stranger anxiety (even with dad sometimes), is sensitive to loud screams and even snaps of people's fingers.  Gina Bench snapped really loud by him and he cried for a good five minutes afterwards.  He's finally been saying "ma ma" when he wants me.  It's mostly when he's stuck in his highchair and wants to get out.  Everyone just loves this little guy!