Tate: 9 Months

 Let me just say, first of all, that Tate is way too active right now to snap a good picture of him! This "photo shoot" only lasted about 30 seconds before he climbed off the chair and scurried away. Anyway, Tate at nine months...

 EATING:

Tate nurses at 7 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 7:45 pm. He's a speedy eater and only nurses for about 5-6 minutes total. He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the rest of us. For his meals he has baby food or whatever we're eating. His favorite food is homemade pot pie, but some of his other favorites are bananas, diced peaches, pears, strawberries, bread, pancakes, yogurt, pizza, pasta, and any crumb he can find on the ground. He still spits up all the time, particularly after he eats. We do a lot of laundry!

 SLEEPING:

Tate sleeps like a champ from 8 pm to 6:30 or 7:00 am. He still sleeps with a pacifier and blanket, and he sleeps on his tummy with his bum up in the air, just like Mya does :)

He naps from 9:00-10:30 am and 2:00-4:00 pm - except when his sisters start belting out Disney songs and wake him from his nap early, which happens fairly often. 

 SKILLZ:

This month he learned to crawl, rather than just scooting around. He's a really speedy crawler now and he gets from one room to the other so quickly. This month he also learned how to sit himself up and how to stand himself up to furniture. He also learned how to crawl up stairs, and now his favorite thing to do is climb up our full flight of stairs over and over. We've really had to babyproof lately and get all those barbie shoes out of reach. He is in a really bad habit of yanking hair and he pulls out our hair by the handful. We're all going to be bald by the end of the year.

He babbles a lot, mostly saying "Dada", "Baba", and "Gaga". Once and a while he says "Mama", but not often. He learned how to clap and greet us with a wave. The best thing ever is coming into his room after his naps and seeing him standing up in his crib, giving a big toothy smile and waving his little chubby hand. When did my baby turn into this little boy!?

 PHYSICAL STATS:

At his 9 month check-up he weighed 20 lbs 6 oz (50th percentile) and was 30 3/4 inches long (99th percentile). He started this month with 4 1/2 teeth and now he has 8 teeth and another one about to poke through. 

Tate is the sweetest, mildest, most lovable boy around and he sure brings a lot of smiles to our family.

Bryn, Mya, and Tate at 9 months