Cael is nine months old today, and to celebrate he went to the doctor. Boy, does he know how to have a good time!

The stats:

Height: 25th percentile
Weight: (17 lbs) 10th percentile
Head: 50th percentile

So, nothing's changed. He's still a runt with a huge head. A smaller, skinnier runt, but a runt nonetheless.

Food:

He's still nursing and eating solid foods. He was strictly an oatmeal man, but this morning he had his first batch of Cream of Wheat for breakfast. Ever the adventurer.

Bread for finger foods (he failed at rice cakes).

For dinner he has veggies, stews or quinoa. We tried meat earlier this week, but he would have none of it. I can't say that I blame him though - I wouldn't want to eat watered down ground turkey either. So, as of today, he's still an herbivore.

He's a huge fan of drinking water from a cup/glass. He can't hold it himself yet, but he tries valiantly.

Motor skills:

Still not even the least bit interested in creeping or crawling (or anything to do with being on his stomach). He's a big fan of standing and assisted walking/running/chasing Clio. Cruising is coming along gradually.

He can lean to get something that's fallen out of his reach, but if he leans too far he falls onto his stomach and can't get back upright (usually with his face smashed into the stray toy). He sits like a champ, but isn't able to get into a sitting position by himself. Nor is he able to pull himself up to standing.

His fine motor skills are well honed. He can even pick a sprout out of my hand.

Talking:

He says things that sound like "mama" and "dada" but it's totally random. Words at this point still have no meaning. He doesn't know what "no" means.

Teeth:

Two on the bottom. It looks like there are four on the top about ready to burst through (very swollen and red today).

For fun:

He is learning to "clap, clap, clap!" his hands, adores the itsy bitsy spider and is working on waving bye-bye. Peekaboo is also a hit.

Other:

He's done with the pacifier. No interest at all. He has gotten himself very attached to his green blanket, and always clings to it while sleeping.

First swimming class on Saturday. That should be terrifying fun.

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We're currently without our video camera, so you'll just have to add the hissing sound in your head. ;)

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I thought Cael knew how to scream. I was wrong. Now he knows how to scream. And he does it all the time.

I guess about 9 months is when babies develop the ability to throw a temper tantrum. Cael has figured out that if he's not happy where he is (sitting with his toys, in his Exersaucer, in the grocery cart at the store, in someone's lap) he can just let out a loud, shrieking scream and someone will rush to him, pick him up and change his position. Works every time.

I've gotten to the point where I tell him that tantrums are not necessary and he's really too young to be such a drama queen, but I do it while I'm catering to his every whim, so I'm pretty sure he's not getting the message.

He's also taken to scrunching up his nose and hissing like a cat. I'm not quite sure what he's trying to convey with that - it seems like he might be testing it with all possible emotions to see which it fits best.

When he makes a decision, I'll let you know.

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I find myself constantly surprised (and, I will admit to being a little disappointed) at the lack of attention Cael gets on outings. Surely, this is mostly a *new mother!* thing, but there is a part of me that thinks objectively that babies should draw at least a little attention. I mean, they're adorable. If guys rubberneck at ladies in short skirts, can't the rest of humanity be bothered to look at a passing ball of cuteness?

When we go to the store, even when Cael is making cooing and bubbling noises, no one looks at him, waves at him, or makes cooing noises back. Not even the people at the register can be bothered to acknowledge his existence. I feel bad for the little dude, because he is so used to everyone he sees (read: the flood of relatives) turning into his own personal entertainment system the moment he walks into a room. On outings, when there are tons of potential playthings, they all ignore his advances. He's constantly being shot down. It's kinda heartbreaking.

That is until we encounter that random person (usually a woman) who goes in the complete opposite direction. Instead of ignoring him, she throws herself at him and launches into full on, in depth stories about her life, tells us the names, ages and tooth-counts of her grandchildren (always a grandparent), and is totally inconsiderate about the fact that when we planned our excursion to the store we didn't factor in a thirty minute conversation with a stranger.

On Friday night the sales lady at Macy's stood at the register with our purchases and didn't ring them up for a good 10 minutes, holding them (and us) hostage while she told us grandmothery things. Then, after she rang them up, she decided there were things in the store Cael had to have and said, "Stay right there." She proceeded to rummage through the Christmas decorations and find every stuffed animal, test its beady eye strength, and bring it to the register. Once she had piled up enough, she asked which one we wanted to buy. It was an entirely new degree of salesperson purchase pushing and it made me very uncomfortable.

If Ryan hadn't been there, we would have come home with at least one over sized plush ornament with a holiday scarf. There's no doubt about it.

Oh, and then there was the guy at Fred Meyer who pinned me against the sour cream and told me about all nine of his grandchildren, showed me all of their photos and described in what ways they looked like their parents. When he got to the youngest, newest babies, he told me the story of their births and how he almost didn't live to see it because of a terrible car accident. The accident killed the other driver, hurt the man and his wife, and would you believe their HMO didn't cover it, and he's been to six hospitals in order to find someone who can diagnose, and the pain is right there when he turns his neck like so...

So, maybe I'm not really that upset about the lack of attention Cael gets at the stores now. Huh.

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Cael can now balance pretty well. He generally needs at least one hand on something to keep from toppling, but he can hang in there a long time. Without any support he can manage about five seconds before falling (on a good try).

Also, if you hold onto his hands he'll take big, prancing high-steps and lead you where he wants to go (usually to the room where Ryan is trying to study).

He's most enthralled with his new ability to stand with his face smooshed against the mirror or a window and slobber all over. I think he's in a competition with his own reflection over who can produce the most spit.

So far, it's a tie. I'll let you know who wins.

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Today Cael got to put his favorite skill to good use. After months of shoving things into his mouth (his hands, his toys, my face, Clio's ear), he finally stuffed something in there that was actually intended to be consumed.

I erroneously thought that he couldn't make a mess with a slice of bread. I didn't even put a bib on him. Rookie mistake. Turns out that if you combine bread with the quantity of drool he produces you get a very soggy mush that smears like butter.

You'd think after all his practice gumming everything within his wingspan he'd spend less time chewing himself and more time chewing the bread. Apparently he thinks he can get through the hand to the bread that's tightly clutched in his palm if he is persistent enough. Either that, or he's developed a taste for his own fingers.

I fear either explanation.

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