Favorite 9 Month Pictures

10 Months Old

This month has been characterized by crashes and falls.  Jude has discovered that he can get around, pull up to stand, crawl under, over and through just about anything.  He has taken a lot of trauma to the head this month.  He has also tempted fate by attempting to ingest anything he finds lying around.
Jude has become much more interested in toys.  He loves balls and just about anything that he can chew on.  One of his favorite times of day is bath time.  He's chewed most of his bath toys to pieces.  He still has just three bottom teeth, all of which are completely in and have been for a while.  We did notice that his top right tooth is nearly pushing through, so that might explain the infatuation with chewing.
Jude is a very smiley kid. His smile lights up his face. All you have to do is look at him and he smiles.  He loves being sung to, read to, held and tickled.  He's not a big eater but some of his favorite foods are blueberries, cheese, graham crackers, grapes, pretzel rods and yogurt melts.  He dislikes all veggies.
His favorite pastime is getting into the garbage cans.  I have to empty them on a daily basis for fear that he will eat something dangerous like a diaper or paper with a staple in it.  He seems to love paper.  He tears up every magazine or kid's coloring page within his reach.  Although the kids love him more than anything, he's becoming a bit of a nuisance to them.  They ask me frequently, "can you put Jude to bed? He's wrecking our stuff."
Jude sleeps through the night inconsistently.  When he wakes up he is nearly impossible to get back to sleep without a bottle.  He goes to bed pretty easy around 7 and wakes up for the day around 7.  He is put down for two naps a day.  Somedays I am lucky and he will sleep for two hours at least once, other days he wakes up twenty minutes into his nap and won't go back down.  He's certainly not our best napper.  Its the inconsistency that drives me crazy.
Jude's a special little guy, with a personality all his own and it is fun to watch it take shape as he gets older.  We're pretty lucky.

First Valentine's Day

Standing Up

 I really wasn't expecting this guy to be on the move so soon.  This week he's taken two trips down the steps.  First, the basement staircase.  Despite my best attempts at asking (and then begging) the older kids to keep the door shut he found his way down one afternoon while exploring.  It was a sound that is forever implanted in my brain.  Jeremy installed a self-closing hinge on the door a few days later. The very day after the basement staircase had been reinforced, he took another tumble from the second floor stairs while the gate was open (clearly he is an opportunist).  Jeremy was here for that one.  I'm so glad.  I would have felt very negligent had it been on my watch.
This week he's been pulling up and standing everywhere, using anything he can pull up on (even if it is mobile and sends him crashing to his face).  He is getting much more stable and sure of himself.  I don't think it will be long before he is letting go to take his first steps.  Yikes!  I thought I had more time.  My baby is growing up!

9 Months

I like this picture because you can see his three bottom teeth.

It seems (to me) this month Jude went from little baby to nearly toddler.  His new little teeth (all three of them) are fully in, he's all over the place in a flash (army crawling along most of the time since it gets him from point A to point B much more quickly than crawling), he's feeding himself at mealtime, and his hair is growing and becoming much thicker.  He can take baths with all the other kids now without being drowned in their splashing.  He plays on the floor for longer periods without screaming for us.  He's become much more resilient to Owen's attempts at play.  He can hold his bottle himself, and the big one...he can find his pacifier when it falls out and put it back into his mouth on his own.
Just this week we lowered Jude's crib mattress since he's beginning to pull up to stand (infrequently, but he can do it).  That always seems like such a milestone to me for some reason. I guess it is just a sign that the baby is not going to be a baby much longer.  This time Jeremy commented, "this is the last time we will ever do this."  Wow!!! and Hallelujah!!!
Jude is enjoying books and beginning to turn pages.  He even attends to book features; lifting flaps, feeling textures, turning pages, etc.  He likes balls, cars, trains and trucks-just like a boy!  He loves to splash in the bathtub.  He lies on his back and kicks his legs until the water is crashing in waves over his head.  He has especially taken a liking to cords, trash cans and paper.  One day this week I think he consumed several calories worth of printer paper that he confiscated from the trash can.  He finds little pieces of food crumbs, bits of trash or anything else lying on the floor and it immediately goes into his mouth.  I've fished out candy wrappers, popcorn kernels and hair ties just to name a few.  One night this month Jeremy was feeding him a bottle and noticed he wasn't drinking well.  Upon closer inspection there was a plastic door stopper in the back of his throat just waiting to be removed using the Heimlich.
Jude likes to eat just about anything we offer him. He isn't a big eater but he is an adventurous eater.  The only thing I've seem him refuse after multiple attempts is eggs.  He likes to feed himself more than having it fed to him.  Pretzel rods, yogurt melts, graham crackers and blueberries are favorites of his.  He also enjoys just chewing on a spoon at mealtime.  He's gotten over his dislike for his highchair thankfully.
Jude's sleeping patterns are pretty good.  He goes to bed consistently between 6:30 and 7:30.  Most nights he wakes up at least once (and never goes back to bed without being fed).  He wakes up around 7 a.m.  Naps are pretty hit or miss.  On most days his naps only last an hour if I'm lucky.  That doesn't deter me from lying him down consistently at 10 and 2.
Jude is beginning to make babbling sounds and is pretty amused at himself.  He attempts Dada and Momma.  We are beginning to introduce signs to him.  He communicates in smiles, laughs and cries and certainly gets his point across.

Pulling Up to a Stand

This isn't a great picture.  Its hard to capture because I always am braced for having to rescue him from falling or from furniture falling on top of him.

Crawls

Jude has been army crawling for several weeks but is beginning to crawl the traditional way.  It is slower and he prefers dragging himself along but he can do it!  Look out world....Jude is on the move!