Stats

As you can see, Michael is finally getting the hang of this solid food thing.  In fact, he LOVES it.  I was a little surprised that he could handle peas so early, I had thrown down a couple as a distraction fully expecting to be swiping them off the roof of his mouth after a few bites, but he scarfed them down like a CHAMP.  Sadie also decided that she was going to eat nothing but peas and dumped the entire dish onto her plate.  She definitely does not share Brian's little pea problem.  :)
 Michael has been standing for a while now, and can let go and stand on his own for longer and longer stretches.  He is bending his knees like he wants to try it on his own, or maybe take a step and his face lights up with anticipation.  As soon as he takes a step, I predict he will be off after his sister.  We can barely keep him in the playroom and let him crawl through the house with a careful eye on our grotesquely uneven steps into the sunroom and the rough edged bottom of the rock wall that's in there.  Once he's a steady walker we won't be so concerned, but jagged rocks are NOT the place you want to learn to stand and walk.

We can't really get a good photo because they're on the bottom - but this kid HAS TWO TEETH!  ...and four more in the process of coming in.  He's not waking up exactly at night, but he is dream feeding, rolling, and skooting.  And not sleeping more than an inch away from me.  I'm too tired to make socially appropriate facial expressions most days, but it's still kind of exciting that he finally has teeth.  I can seem him poking them with his fingers or running his tongue over them and grinning as though he knows he's done well.  

At his nine month well baby check, Michael came in just above 29 inches, and 18.25 pounds.  He shot up over two inches since his last check, but is exactly the same in weight.  This kid has been pounding down milk and solids like there's no tomorrow, so that gives you an idea how darn active he's been.  Every once in a while I catch him stepping onto toys and reaching for new things just like his sister and climbing on top of things in the playroom.  It looks like we've got another crazy monkey child on our hands, except this one is silent and patient.  Or maybe not so silent lately.  Michael finally formed coherent words.  Right after Brian left for work one day, Michael looked at the door and said, "Da da. Da da."  Of course he looked a the bookcase a few minutes later and said the same thing, so we won't quite count it yet.  ;)



 Sadie has been doing a great job listening and helping out.  She helped me make dinner tonight and she likes to fold diapers, sweep the floor, and clean up in the house.  We've been a little cooped up due to the extreme heat, but she's been a champ about it and we've managed to avoid the TV trap most of the time.  We added a six foot play tunnel to our toy ensemble, and it has worked WONDERS.  The kids chase each other in and out of the tunnel for a solid hour each day.  It is GLORIOUS.  On a slightly less glorious note, Sadie jumped on my leg and dislocated my knee last week.  It went right back in and didn't hurt more than usual (it's the fourth time I've dislocated a knee), but it's still acting up so I have some X-rays and a physical therapy evaluation coming up.  It's hard to get to appointments with my Moms club responsibilities and Brian's Navy responsibilities piling up, but it would also be nice to run without limping afterwards.  Especially when I'm chasing Sadie all over the place.