Simon: Nine Months

Weight:  He's 19.2 pounds which is slightly below average.

Height:  He's 29.5 inches long, which is slightly above average.

Medical Issues:  Thankfully Simon is one healthy dude!  Our biggest issue with him is dry scalp... but hopefully that starts to resolves himself.  As I think I mentioned in the last post Simon finished taking his medicine this month we went back to the cardiologist to get a Holter monitor.  He wore the monitor for 24 hours and it recorded his heart during that time.  They reviewed how it went and everything looks great!  Unless we have an issue, he will go back to the cardiologist in a year for a follow up.  I'm so happy this heart issue was able to be resolved so easily and isn't a lifelong issue.  We are very grateful of that.

Sleep:  Oh sleep... Simon isn't sleeping through the night sadly, but some nights are better than others.  There was a period of time towards the end of the month where he was waking up quite a bit and only wanting a bottle to calm back down.  Usually I make a bottle for nighttime and we keep it out to give him throughout the night.  I think he needs it to calm down.  In hindsight it was probably teething why he was waking up more.  He did sleep well for my mom while we were out of town though.  In more light news, dude rolls around the crib quite a bit... he's all over that thing.  He sleep a lot on his belly and side but sometimes on his back too, but not as much anymore.  He will start on one end of the crib and end up on the other.  You never know where you'll end up finding him.  I've noticed he will sometimes sleep with his butt up in the air too which is funny and cute.  Dan and I alternate nights to get up with him.  And then on the weekends whoever gets up with him at night gets to sleep in in the morning.  I think it's a fair way to split the work.

Clothes/Diapers (size):  He's mostly in 6/9 month clothes and size 3 diapers

Diet:  Simon likes to eat.  We've been trying to give him more table foods.  I don't want to forget, but can't remember if this actually happened this month but I gave Simon a pickle and he loved it!  We do mostly purees but I try to give him other things too.  He likes mum mum crackers (which he can hold and eat).  He isn't doing great with feeding himself yet, he can pick up the food and he knows it goes in his mouth, but he doesn't know the releasing it from his hand part.  Most things we give him he eats and seems to like... like frozen yogurt for sure, but only a couple things I've given him that he didn't like.  The most note worthy is we went to Chevy's and I gave him a bite of the corn cake/mash thing they have and he cried... haha.

Baby Gear Love:  Toys are a big hit, he loves this stand toy that Amy gave us.  He likes the monkey suction cup toy.  He loves Sophie.  He likes balls and really love remotes and phones.  He loves toys in general and anything he can put in his month.  We still love the Zipadee Zip sack.  The LeapFrog dog - Scout is great, he likes when it talks to him, but we use it for bedtime music a lot.  Jumparoo works sometimes.  He uses his binky mostly at bedtime.  Any toys he can bang together.

Milestones/Firsts:  The biggest first would be his first night spent away from both of us at someone else's house (putting aside all that time in the hospital).  He spent the whole weekend with my mom while Dan and I went to Rachel's wedding and did wonderfully.  He's scooting more on the follow.  He's talking more and I heard him say mama for the first time... of course I'm not naïve enough to think that he was referring to me, but he said it clear as day!  Geez, I need to start writing this stuff down.  He's gotten in a pool for the first time... small pool but still.  Learned how to wave and then stopped doing it by the next day.  We tried our a sippy cup. I think he liked it.

Likes:  toys, his parents, banging things, bouncing, get lifted up and 'shake'ed, standing up, the dogs, watching Quina, the cats, blowing on his belly, eating

Dislikes:  Being tired and/or hungry, being set up when he doesn't want to, teething, when he gets tired he starts kicking things which is funny

Things I don't want to forget:  Simon is such a happy guy, really the only time he fusses is if he's hungry or tired or teething... we really lucked out with how easy of a baby he is.  Watching Simon and Vail interact is so much fun.  A story about them - they were sitting on the table together playing with toys (remotes) and Simon would notice Vail was playing with one and would drop what he was playing with and stole what she was playing with.  She would just pick up what he discarded.  Then he'd see her playing with something new and steal it back - so funny!  He also stole her binky a couple of times.  Babies!  Simon is becoming more active.  He may not crawl, but loves climbing over us while we sit on the floor or couch.  He likes playing with our faces/ears and my necklace a lot.

He loves to eat real food.  We've been letting him try lots of things.

No matter how fussy he is, letting Simon play with our phones or a remote control will distract him.

He will kick things when he's tired.  He also really likes spinning things on toys.

Wants to put everything in his mouth and when it's attached to something or too big to get into his mouth it's pretty funny watching him try.  We've found him sucking on a table or the grocery cart handle.. gross.  He likes to put his hands in our mouths too.

Dan has made the comment "he doesn't even know how to cry" before... and that's true, he just doesn't actually cry very often.  Dan called him Ding Dong a lot and lately Baby Ba-Ba

Simon's Holter monitor

Simon is such a joy to be around.  He's so easy going and happy.  We have the best baby!!