9 months

February 26-March 25, 2011

This Saturday morning the boys had yogurt with cherries in it for the first time. They really liked it! We also left them for the first time at night with Allison and Javier to go to Tyler's birthday celebration. They did so good and it was nice to be able to get away for a few hours. The next day we had another Sunday Funday playgroup with Daegan.

This month started off as the "moving" month for Porter and Eli. Starting off slowly, Eli started to pull and move his bumpers during naptime or at night before falling asleep. Most Italian homes have a light switch (for the overhead light) in the middle of the room on one wall, with a long cord. This is so you place your bed on that particular wall and then place the switch on/near your bedside table. That way at night you don't have to get out of bed to turn off the overhead light--just flip the button. Eli's crib is on this wall and the cord is wrapped up and just above the level of his bumpers. We have already had to move the crib further away from the wall because of our little grabber.

One morning on my way back down the hall I got a little nervous because the light in their room was on. I stood outside wondering if it had been on their entire nap time or was someone else here? After walking in to flip the wall switch, I noticed it was down=universal sign for "off". So as I look up I see Eli, on his back in the corner of his crib, with the bumper pulled down, and the cord and switch in his hand. He was fast asleep. I had to laugh silently while I jimmied the cord out of his grip, turned off the light, moved him out of the corner, and left him to finish his nap. This was only the beginning! These pictures are from another time but you can see the cord and wall-plate behind the crib.
"What Mom? I just wanted to see what was on the other side."
And this was it. Evan checks on the boys right before we go to sleep at night. This night, we had just put them down and I was about to go out for pizza. Evan decided to look in on them just because. We are so glad he did! This is what he found. Eli standing up and hanging over the side of the crib. We immediately moved him to the swing in our bedroom and silently lowered the crib in the dark while Porter slept soundly. What a monkey we have on our hands!
Hanging out with Dad in the morning after breakfast. This month the boys also ate pasta, chicken, cottage cheese, and waffles for the first time, and they started putting the star puffs in their mouths all by themselves. Eli showed us his first tooth on the 5th--we have been waiting so long for it!
On our walks in the afternoon, Eli has been very stubborn about letting me cover up his arms or hands. So alas, his hands are out in the open, exposed to the chilly weather. I have been scolded at least once each walk by Italian ladies who walk up to us and give me the look for not covering up his hands. They then proceed to do it for me while Eli stares at them. Porter always has one hand covered and the other in his mouth--which they don't like either. They are big fans of pacifiers here and thumb-sucking is not ideal! So they tell me to get Porter a pacifier like Eli's and to cover up Eli's hands, but I quickly get over it. They also gush over them for a few minutes before or after scolding me so it makes up for the look.

We also had our first bout with sickly little boys. Runny noses=sucking their noses with the aspirator=Evan thinks I'm torturing them. It took about 8 days to get completely over it.

Here we are in the play-yard. I was in the kitchen getting dinner prep going and I would sneak away from the sink to make sure I could see 2 little heads still on the mat. Check! As I walked back to join the boys I couldn't put my finger on what was different. Everyone was still here, nothing out of the ordinary right? Wrong. OH! I realized Eli was on the wrong side of the gate. He was checking out all his clean toys in the basket (we cleaned them after the runny nose week). He crawled around the edge by the wall and made it to the basket to rescue all of his toys as Porter cheered him on from behind the gate. Sneaky little Eli.
"What? Yeah, you lowered my crib. Obviously not low enough though."
In jail. Really I just corralled them to see where I should put Eli's bed. The room was re-arranged about 6 times in 2 days. Eli lost his bumpers and his bed moved all over the room.
Final resting spot, for now at least. The crib is low but he still likes to stand up because he's such a big boy. He also likes to maneuver his animals out of his mobile when he gets bored.
We celebrated Grandpa's birthday! Happy Birthday Grandpa!!
Eli has started pulling up on any and everything he can, aside from his army crawling. He also likes to puff out his lips and blow through his nose during mealtimes--like a bull. He thinks he's really funny when he does it.
Porter has really started moving a lot more. He now spins in circles on his belly to get places and really stretches to reach something he wants. He is so determined in his movements. He makes little ooches and schooches with his knees. He has also started biting the spoon when he eats--he now has two top teeth to match his bottom ones (1st: March 9, 2nd: March 10).
Hanging out during play time on the mat.
The shortest distance to anything, is over whatever item is in front of him. "So I'm in the basket. What about it?"
Porter's drool helps him cross barriers as he learns to move more and more.
I sat on the toy box in front of Eli's crib with Porter to look over and play with Eli. The joke is on me. Porter was gnawing on the crib. You can see what he left behind in the picture below.
I know you asked Eli to distract me with smiles and laughter while you ate away at the crib!
Nap time is tough business! "Lost a sock and I had to cover my face with my blanket just to get any shut-eye around here!"
The movement month continues as they are off the mat most of the time and crawling into new territory. They both have been clicking their tongues a lot lately. It's really fun to be across the room and grab their attention by clicking our tongues. Then they smile, which I love.
Standing is so much fun! We went to play group and Eli loved standing on all the mat equipment.
Porter really wanted to join him!
Happy 9 Months!