the dragon project: happy 9 months!

happy happy 9 months to my baby love! how wonderful these 9 months have been. i love how you babble a lot now, says "da da", can't seem to sit still, does the clicking sound with your tongue, hates it when we put on your clothes (esp. jackets), your smile which lights up the room, can go from happy to crying in 0 to 60, combat crawls on one side and everything else you seem to be doing!

after 6 months of teething, baby love finally has his first tooth! it took an eternity but the little bottom bugger finally showed up. we were so happy to see it. it's the cutest tooth i've ever seen! wish i could take a pic of it but it's soooo hard to even get maki to show it to us. next time... i think the one next to it is coming out too.

baby love didn't feed well in hawaii so he wasn't drinking as much milk or eating as much food. he had a cough and cold for the first few days while we were there (flight going there was actually pretty bad since he had ear pain). but now that we are back, so is his appetite! he is eating 3 meals a day now (used to be 2) and sometimes we give 3 food cubes per meal instead of 2. he's also drinking all of his milk if not more. either his appetite is back because he's feeling much better or another growth spurt. regardless i'm glad chubby cheeks is eating well again! he really likes oatmeal with blueberries and chicken with apple. yesterday we started him with table foods. we gave him a banana and also an avocado. both are slippery little suckers and he had a hard time holding them but he still did a great job (video below).

we had his 9-month checkup today. he's 20 lbs 0.5 oz (56th percentile - down from last time because he was sick in hawaii) and 29.5 inches tall (89th percentile) and head size is 50th percentile. the dr said his weight gain is fine. they will gain less as they grow older. she said he's growing "perfectly" and following the curve. he had his blood drawn on his arm. poor baby... but brave one! he didn't even cry. it's easier for me when he doesn't cry. i was about to tell the nurse she can't mess up. there's no room for error here lady. you poke him once and get that vein or i'm going to poke her. he's going to get tested for anemia and lead. dr. kercher said she'll call regardless of the results so hopefully all is well. as usual, she answered all my questions:

eggs are ok to give to him now even the whites. also ok to give yogurt and cheese. just space them out and watch for any allergic reaction.
it's good to start brushing his gums once a day then build up to 2x per day so he can start getting used to it. give him tap water to drink. new york tap water has fluoride. can filter using brita but not necessary to boil the water.
eating 3 food cubes per meal 3x per day is great. when he turns 1 year old, he should be drinking less than 20 oz of milk. most of his nutrients should be from solids by then.
it is recommended to breastfeed until at least 6 months. tests have shown that during that time, breastfeeding helps prevents allergies, asthma, etc. after 6 months, tests haven't proven breasfeeding to help with those but breastmilk still provides the babies with antibodies.
it's ok he's still napping 3x per day but that will most likely go down to 2 when he turns 1 year old.
it's perfectly fine if he's not walking by 12 months. babies usually walk before 18 months.

what else is new? maki has a little bit of stranger danger now although he's still very friendly to strangers. he smiles at people and nanny said he started to wave his hand (but we haven't witnessed it). he loves his mama! most of the time he prefers me over anyone else and i absolutely LOVE that! haha. mik hates it. he started preferring me while we were in hawaii. we really bonded then. :)

some updates on my end of things: i stopped pumping at work last week. i don't like the pump in style and i can only afford to rent one hospital grade pump which i keep at home. plus it's getting really annoying going down to the lactation room. i was just done.. so done. yesterday was also the last time i nursed maki. i was almost in tears but i stopped myself from crying because i knew he was ready to give it up. i think he has been ready - more ready than i was to give it up. in the 3 minutes i nursed him, he stopped 6 times and bit me once (fyi - my left nipple is still very sore and raw from last time he bit me there a few times about 2 weeks ago). i think he lost interest in nursing when we switched to level 3 nipple on his bottles or when we started solids (both around the same time). he wants a faster flow and just wants his milk asap! when i gave him the bottle this morning, he totally didn't mind. didn't even look for the boob. so that chapter is now closed. i'm sad to lose that connection with him but it was time. we find quality time together when we read, when i massage him, etc. i'm just glad he's not going to be one of those toddlers who run to their mommy and grab at their boobies! haha. i stopped nursing but i'm still going to pump so he can have breastmilk even if it's just for antibodies. another thing i stopped doing is sterilizing everything. i stopped boiling his bottles and breast pump parts when we were in hawaii (no big pot) and i haven't done it since. i think the nanny still does it but i definitely don't do it over the weekends. i just put them all in the dishwasher. that should get hot enough to kill the germs!

here's a video of him eating his first table food plus lots and lots of recent pics! (took some 9-month pics of him on the couch but haven't uploaded it yet). enjoy!