Nathan at Eight, Nine, and Ten Months

Okay, I'm slacking a bit on the monthly baby updates for Nathan! Here's what he's been up to for the past three months...

Nathan learned to crawl and pull himself up on furniture. He can even stand on his own for a few seconds, which he finds so exciting that he laughs every time he does it.

Nathan is starting to talk, much to his siblings' delight. He says "bye", "mama", and "oh". He also gives kisses and high fives. He has four teeth now, and bites on everything. He is eating mostly table foods, and loves to feed himself. He opens cupboards and drawers and likes to play with remote controls and cordless phones. He likes to eat tiny inedible objects such as perler beads and k'nex rings, which I later find in his poopy diapers. He loves to chase Oscar and pull his tail. Oscar is surprisingly good with Nathan, even when he's losing fur by the fistful.

Nathan weighed in at 21 lbs 14 oz at his nine month check-up. He then proceeded to get sick with the flu bug that hit our house last week, which caused him lose some weight (not sure how much, exactly, but my guess is maybe 2-3 lbs). In a matter of six days he went from being very chubby to pretty average. You can actually change his diaper without mounds of thigh getting in the way, and we discovered that he has wrists too. I was very distraught over his weight loss and as soon as he started eating again, I made it my life's goal to fatten him back up. I was giving him all kinds of foods that would normally be off-limits, such as milk shakes and Christmas cookies, and slathering everything else in inches of butter (toast, english muffins, cooked veggies). In spite of all my efforts, I don't know if it will make any difference, because babies have this amazing ability to not overeat. They just take what they need and when they get full they stop opening up anymore. ( I, on the other hand, have no self control whatsoever and eat anything that looks appetizing - which is why I try not to keep chocolate in the house.) He'll be weighed again in a few weeks when he turns one, so I guess we'll find out then how much his overall growth has been affected. I wonder if I could introduce whipping cream to his diet instead of the usual whole milk? Kidding! (maybe)

Now for some more pics...

First time standing up at the ottoman

Here's what Nathan's hair looks like when he wakes up from a nap....

... Good thing he has Jesse to give him a makeover

A close-up of the 'do

As you can see, Nathan is well on his way to approaching toddler-hood and I'm really going to miss these ever-so-precious baby days.