Nine & Ten months!

I am so behind in blogging that I am going to do a nine and ten month update on Will even though he's not quite ten months. Will has had a lot going on these last two months so I'll give a quick recap of the highlights for those that don't want to read all the details!

Will at 10 months

Love to jabber - mostly d sounds
Can pull to standing
Does not love the feel of grass

Two teeth
Still small
Loves graham crackers and ritz crackers
Can walk behind his little walker

Loves to push things
Gets into everything!
Loves Addies things
Loves being a big boy

Can open cupboards & drawers

Enjoys going for walks
Super smiley!
Love blankets & pillows!

Got stung by a bee or some other kind of insect!
Loves the bath and swimming pool!

Likes any of Addie's princess stuff (much to Clay's dismay!)
Is a pretty fast crawler!
Has the cutest "cry" face

Eating a few new foods!
So loving and so darn cute!

Now the detailed version!
Will is still very small for his age (his reflux issues have definitely been a major factor in this). At his nine month well check, he was 16 lbs 10 oz putting him in the 3rd percentile! Addie was lean but she never dropped below the 20th percentile! He is around 28" (39th percentile) so not growing much in length either. Hopefully once we can start getting more foods into him, he'll start to grow more. We love our skinny little guy though!


FOOD & REFLUX
After spending a small fortune on hypoallergenic formula in June, we decided to start trying to mix in a Gentlease formula (pretty much half the cost) to see if he could tolerate it. We started mixing only 1 oz. of the new formula in with 5 oz. of his liquid gold. He had a couple of fussy days but then seemed to be fine. After a week we started mixing in 2 oz. of the new stuff to 4 oz. of his regular. Again, a couple fussy days then seemed to be fine. After a week of that, we started to move to half and half but he didn't seem to be tolerating it as well so we're back to 40/20. Even if it's just a little bit in each bottle, it's already saving us money.

We stopped giving him new baby foods because we were having so many issues with his stomach. So, he's mostly been living on oatmeal, bananas and avocados- he especially likes them in chunks he can feed himself.


For the last month, we've been introducing a few new things. He loves himself some graham & ritz crackers. He would just keep eating either of them if I let him. He makes a huge mess when he eats them! Now that he's had some things with flavor- he doesn't want to eat the puffs anymore.



His reflux is pretty much under control with his medicine, which he still gets twice a day. We'll see if he continues to do well once we start getting some more foods in him! It seems like he might be starting to outgrow it. We can only hope!

SLEEP
Sleep is pretty decent...although, there is still room for improvement. Right now, his average bedtime is around 6:30. Sometimes he goes to bed as early as 6 or as late as 7. He usually goes right to sleep and will sleep without waking most of the time until 5-6am. I usually give him a bottle and then put him back in bed so I can get another hour of sleep! He's usually up for the day between 6:30-7am (way too early for me)!

We bounce back and forth between 2 and 3 naps right now. It depends on how tired he is in the morning and what we've got going on. With Addie's swim lessons, I was having to either put him down for a nap really early and wake him or keep him up till after! He is a better napper than Addie was but she was a better night sleeper.



DEVELOPMENT
Will has mastered crawling and has moved on to pulling to stand, cruising along the furniture and walking behind his little walker. He can even stand by himself for a second or two sometimes! He loves being able to reach things on the coffee table and play with Addie's toy kitchen.

He also likes to try to reach things high up on the fridge, open cupboard doors & drawers (even after smashing his fingers!), play with the DVD player and cable box, push our bar stools back and forth (one day I'm sure he'll pull it over on top of himself) and when possible, try to get up the stairs! He is definitely going to be a trouble maker. He enjoys pushing around anything that will move- boxes, toys, books, etc.

The other day, the Huggies box kept him busy for quite awhile (see video)!

He now has his front two bottom teeth. His first tooth made it's appearance as a slit in the gum on July 22nd (9 months) and his 2nd one was not far behind, cutting through on August 8th. He is WAY ahead of Addie on this one....she didn't even have her first tooth till she was 11 months! He is definitely not as good of a teether as Addie was. I never knew she had teeth till they were in because they never bugged her (still didn't even when her molars came in). I thought Will was having reflux issues because he was so fussy and it turns out it was the darn teeth! (these are the best pics I can find of his teeth! look hard!)


He loves to talk and "sing". My favorite is when Addie is singing in the car or stroller (which is pretty much all the time) and he starts making noises like he's singing with her. It's so cute. Most of his sounds are d sounds but he can say mama and nananana.

He definitely knows how to through a tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants or when something gets taken away from him (he obviously has it happen a lot with his big sis around). It's hard to not laugh when he puts his head down and pouts. This is a video of him throwing a fit because we were taking the licorice away!

He is still such a smiley kid- most of the time greeting perfect strangers with his adorable smile. He is such a cute little kid- his little face just melts my heart. We love him so much.

A few other things:
He got stung by a bee or bit by some kind of insect while at the pool at the end of July. The poor kid was screaming and in a lot of pain for a few minutes. Once I got some Benadryl and Motrin in him, he was just fine except for the swollen eye & cheek causing him to drool like crazy!


He absolutely LOVES Addie's princess stuff. Given the choice of a regular toy or something of Addie's that is pink and has princesses- he will take that. Especially her sippy cups. Clay doesn't think it's funny but I do!



We love you buddy! Can't believe you are almost a year!