Louis: Nine Months Old

Believe it or not. Another month down. Second baby syndrome is in full force and time is flying by. Louis had his well baby appointment today and is coming in at 18.5 lbs and just shy of 30 inches tall (well, long). That puts him in the 25 percentile for weight and 75 percentile for height. He's stayed steady on his growth curve and although he is a string bean he feels incredibly heavy to lug around. I looked up Norah's stats at the same time and he is about a half pound heavier than she was and an inch longer. He was born a pound less (same length) but the growth chart is different for boys so they are right in the same ball park. Very interesting given since at this point she was exclusively breast fed and he has (for the most part) been entirely formula fed. Genetics are strong, people.

I think as of maybe yesterday we can officially call him a crawling baby. He's been pretty mobile for months (army crawling, hysteric rolling, flinging his body backwards, etc.), but he finally seems to have the coordination of arms and legs working together. He loves to do this move where he basically gets in a downward facing dog yoga position and then hurls himself forward. Hey, whatever works.

His disposition continues to be mellow and sweet. His curious side is starting to emerge a bit more and his favorite game in the whole world is to have someone else build a tower of blocks, then lumber over and smack it down. He loves trucks and balls and blocks, as well as dolls, tea cups and his sister's princess shoes. He loves bath time and textured books, being outside and getting tickled. He gives great hugs and loves to drum on anything and everything he can get his hands on.

He hates the drain in the bathtub (scares the crap out of him), holding still for diaper changes, getting his hair washed, eating food from a spoon, not being able to move his body as fast as his brain, and sleeping by himself at night. Good thing the good outweighs the bad.

Norah and Lou are thick as thieves. One of my favorite things IN THE WORLD is when they take a bath together. I don't let them do it every night because it 1) soaks the entire bathroom, and 2) is hard on one's nerves (constant vigilance). But the splashing. Oh, the splashing and laughing and laughing and laughing. One of these days I will get someone else to take video of it (I am on high drowning alert), because it's pure gold.

Happy nine months, Lou. You are such an integral part of what makes this family work. Plus, you're cute. We love you a whole lot.