Monday's Musings - 9 Months!

The little one turned 9 months old yesterday!!! He really is starting to be less and less of a baby and more like a little boy. In a way it makes me sad, that the time goes by so quickly, that I can't just hold him in my arms and cuddle him whenever I want to anymore. He's a mover... a very curious one. And now that he is much more mobile, he's always on the go. It's exciting, watching him figure things out and seeing his little personality develop. Every moment is such a gift.

Edison is still not crawling....in the traditional way. He pulls himself along the ground, inchworm-style.... and he's darn fast at it! He can make his way around anywhere he wants, and frequently "crawls" around the whole main floor of our house, exploring and checking everything out. We had to take a good look around to see what he could get into. I had to move Albert's food and water bowls out onto the deck because Edison was obsessed with trying to touch them.

He can get around so well like this now that I don't know if he ever will crawl the normal way before he learns how to walk. Here is a video of him getting around.... sorry my camera skills aren't very good.

This past couple of weeks, Edison has made big advances in his mobility. He used to be stuck where ever it was that we put him. If he was standing at his activity table, he'd be stuck there until he made enough noise that someone would move him to something else. If he was laying on the floor, he'd be stuck laying down...etc. Now, he can pretty much do whatever he wants. He has learned how to sit down, from standing. He's also figured out how to sit up on his own from the laying down position. He can also get himself up to stand at pretty much any object.....even a wall. While he's standing and holding onto something, he's started to be able to side-step around. So he can now walk around the coffee table or the kitchen island all on his own. I haven't taken many good videos of his new moves yet, but I hope to add some soon! Here is a little glimpse of him playing at his play kitchen:

Because of this new-found mobility, we've had to make a few adjustments. The first one happened the day I went in to get him from his nap and found him standing in his crib! He was never able to go from laying down to sitting to standing before....but now that he can, we promptly lowered his crib mattress. We also installed a baby gate at the top of our stairs. It has a clear panel, so he likes to stand and look down the stairs through it.

Now that Edison has good use of his hands and fingers, he has been exploring toys, objects and food with his fingers a lot lately. He likes to rub his index fingers over different textures. He's always so interested in our laptops and really likes to feel and push the buttons. However....because everything ends up in his mouth sooner or later, we can't really let him play with our laptops without some serious supervision. Jonathan, awesome Dad that he is, dug up an old laptop that doesn't work anymore to let Edison play with. So now Edison has his very own laptop to play with.... I think he was a little disappointed that the screen didn't light up though.

Playing with Dad's airplane controller!

The last exciting development in Edison's little world is that he is getting his first tooth! The funny thing is, in true Reichert fashion, he doesn't want to do anything the normal way...he's getting his top teeth first. Everything I've read says that babies usually get the bottom two front teeth, followed by the top two front teeth. Edison however, thought it would be more fun to get the top ones first....he is his father's son. He started showing the signs of teething a couple of weeks ago when we were in Tofino. I could feel that the top gums were swollen with two lumps in the front. So, for the past couple of weeks we've just been waiting. Edison is handling it fairly well. He has days where I can tell it hurts and he doesn't want anything in his mouth. Some days he eats food really well and other days he doesn't want anything to do with it. Yesterday was one of those days. I could tell it was hurting, I even broke out the baby Tylenol a couple of times.... and by this morning his first tooth has made its appearance! It's just the tiny little corner that has come through, but it's progress. I don't think the other top one will be far behind... I can tell the tooth is pretty close to coming through as well.

So that's where he's at! Now that he's moving around so much, he's definitely keeping us on our toes! There's never a dull moment in the Reichert house!