Friday, September 11, 2009

Simon @ 9 months

We had Simon’s 9-month appointment on Sept. 4 and, after the weigh-in, our doctor declared him “mega baby.” While we’re fine with our big, healthy boy, we couldn’t help but think back to his first week when we had to wake him to eat so he wouldn’t keep losing weight!

He is a big boy – 23.5 pounds and JUST shy of 29 ¾ inches – although STILL not as big as Harmon at the same age (25.3 pounds and 30 ½ inches). While he may be smaller than his big brother, he definitely beats him when it comes to cuddling. He loves to snuggle up to you when you’re holding him and he’ll just lay with you and reach for you the time and again. He doesn’t like it at all if you get too far from him. He’s such a good baby – we’ve so far been blessed with two of them – and he really only cries when he wants his food. He has six teeth now – top front, bottom front and one on each side of the bottom fronts – and you would never know he cut them, unless you measured the amount of drool that flows from his mouth.

He wakes up so happy, after going down between 8:45 – 9:15 p.m. each night (I know, I know, our boys have late bedtimes compared to most). While he’s not too active in his sleep, he has figured out how to successfully sleep on his side, which is adorable. Just like his big bro, he prefers to roll rather than crawl to get where he needs to go. He is developing quite a repertoire of words, which sadly still does not include “mama!” I honestly feel like he’s holding out on me on purpose, especially after my parents have sworn THEY’VE heard him say it. He says dada, along with baba, rara, wawa and what sounds like an “h” sound. He’ll probably say some version of Harmon before he says mama! He also loves to make this teeth-sucking sound and is interested in any mouth noise you can make.

He eats a ton and is getting new and different foods all the time, with yogurt and a few different kinds of dry cereal being the big highlights. One of his favorite things to do before he eats is to kick the tray off his high chair. I think this may signify that we’re just taking too damn long to get his food ready!

He loves his toys, loves going to “school” and especially loves his big brother. At times, Harmon can get him to smile or laugh even when we can’t. Now that Simon is a little bigger, he and Harmon are starting to play together a bit and it’s great to see (and will be for many years to come).

His eyes are still blue and they don’t look like they’re changing anytime soon. Still baffled by this, I spoke with my Dad a bit about his family background. After thinking about it a bit, he remembered that his Uncle Johnny had blue eyes and blond hair. So, assuming someone in Kevin’s biological family has blue eyes, this might explain it. I also learned that my great Uncle Johnny was a minor league baseball player so maybe Simon will inherit his baseball skills too (note: my Dad was a not-too-shabby baseball player too). Genetics are amazing!