Philip - 9 months old

Philip turned 9 months old last week. The time just seems to get faster each day as I watch my littlest boy grow. He continues to be such a sweetie. My little chunker is so loving and I love to take advantage of that by getting in as much hugging and kissing as I can while I can. He's ticklish so that makes it even sweeter that he cackles when you kiss him on his cheeks and under his chin.

I weighed Philip recently on the Wii and he's at 22 pounds. He goes in for his 9 month well check-up next week so we'll see then how tall he is. He's in 12 month and 18 month clothes. He's a wiggle worm so throwing that 22 pounds around is tough on the one holding him. Philip does like to be on the floor so that he can practice his new skills at rocking and reaching but if you walk away...you better be ready for the crying fit. :) Or, maybe that's just with me. He is in that separation anxiety phase. If Philip spots me and I don't come and get him, he cries. If he's on the floor playing and I walk by and don't pick him up...crying. Even if I sit down to play with him, he will do his best to get in my lap. Once he's got me, he's fine. :\ Some days are worse than others with this. I think it's dependent on his tiredness. On the bad days, my carrier comes in quite handy! He's also taking a liking to my hair like Charlie did. I'm trying to teach him not to pull but, he's a 9 month old. He's catching on. In the meantime, I'm just grinning and bearing it. Charlie would just get handfuls. Philip gets a handful in his right hand and then grabs a handful with his left and pulls it to his mouth so he can suck his thumb at the same time. People think it's cute til they're the one who's hair he is pulling.

Philip is finding his voice. I've heard a few more consonant sounds here lately but that's about it. He just likes to babble sometimes. And, yes, he is still a thumb sucker. It's a cute thing but I'm afraid it's going to be a hard habit to break him of. For now, I'm not worrying about it. He really on sucks it when he's tired or hungry.

Philip has begun to put less in his mouth. Now granted, this is still his primary way of exploring things but alot of his toys he now just shakes or pushes around. He loves to shake things, especially toys that make noise.

As for putting things in his mouth, during our photo shoot the other day, he definitely explored all the leaves and sticks and bark that were around him. By the handfuls, he picked it up and sampled it all. Yuck, I know. I did keep the majority of it out of his mouth between shots. :) He got a couple pieces of pine straw and they poked him as he went to put them in his mouth...Philip really is a good baby. He's just content with most things. He eats well. He sleeps well. He plays well. I also contribute this quality to the fact that he's not crawling yet. He's apparently just content to sit and watch everything go by. He is beginning to realize though that being mobile has its advantages. Philip will go from sitting up to his belly but hasn't moved much more than that except for pushing backwards. He will roll to try and get to something though. I can tell he wants to be running around with his big brother but we'll see how long it is until he's actually doing that!

Philip is doing well with eating solids. I'm still making all his food except his rice cereal/oatmeal. He doesn't turn his nose up at anything. Peas, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes, are just to name a few of the veggies he eats. Fruit is a little more limited in that alot of the berries he can't eat until he's a year old. But for now it's apples, pears, peaches, bananas, blueberries, and cantaloupe. I've started him on meats and he seems to really like these. Cheeses have also been added to his diet. Cottage cheese and cubed cheddar cheese are mainly it though. He eats yogurt to round out his dairy food group. He LOVES to eat yogurt. Philip just about can't stay in his high chair if he sees the container and you aren't feeding it to him! He also loves to eat bread and bagels. Philip is down to nursing three times a day. Morning, mid-afternoon and nighttime. He also drinks from a sippy cup very well and can even drink from a straw. Philip was bound and determined one day to get my Chick-Fil-A cup so I handed it over to him. He just put that straw in his mouth and sucked on it until he got a swallow. I had no clue at that point that he could do that!

Sleeping - Philip sleeps about 12 hours each night. He goes to bed around 8:00 pm and wakes at about 7:30 or 8:00 am. The last few days he's been getting up at 6:00 or 6:30 to nurse so that just goes to show you that you can never depend on a schedule with little ones. His naps are still dependant on the day. He catnaps in the car to/from taking and picking up Charlie from school and then will take a good nap in the afternoon - usuallly around 2 or 2.5 hours. Days we are home, he will take a morning nap around 11 am for about and hour or 1.5 hours and then will take a two hour nap in the afternoon around 2 or 3 pm.

Philip continues to love his big brother. Just this morning, Philip and I were laying in my bed just cooing and playing with each other. He heard the door open and whipped that head around to see Charlie come in! He began to kick and bounce. Philip knew it was Charlie. Then when Charlie walked up to Daniel's side of the bed, Philip hurled himself towards him with the biggest grin! I just had to smile. He doesn't quite have this response to Daniel yet but he definitely knows his daddy and will greet him with bouncing and a grin.

Hope you have enjoyed the pics so far. Here are a couple more just for laughs. These give you a better feel of the "real" Philip.