9 Month Check-Up

Luke turned 9 months on Monday and just as he did, he accomplished two things. First: His belly-crawl became a real crawl - up on his hands and knees. When he wants to move fast, he still gets down on his belly and hauls himself across the floor but he is getting very adept at the real thing. Second: He is pulling himself up to standing. Imagine my surprise when I went in to get him from his nap and there he was standing up in his crib. He hasn't really figured out that if he lets go he will fall over though. He keeps pulling himself up on the toy box, losing his balance and then crashing over. Either that or Liam is pushing him over. Sometimes when my back is turned it's really hard to tell which.

9 month check-up stats were:
Weight - 21lbs 12 ounces, 60th percentile
Length - 29 inches, 70th percentile

Brothers - Friends

It amazing to watch Liam and Luke interact and play with each other. From Day 1, Luke has watched everything his big brother does. Now he follows Liam around and tries to grab anything he has. If Liam is eating, Luke wants to eat too. If Liam is playing with a toy, Luke wants to play with it. The trouble is Liam does not always like to share. Even if he is not playing with a particular toy and Luke starts to play with it, Liam will go and take it from him and say "share!" (Hmm...Liam...that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.) In the instance of this video though, he was quite happy to let his brother come and try to get his sippy cup and make a game of it.

Now we are two

This is the face of a two year old. A preschooler. A little boy. My baby is gone. Sigh.

Liam turned two yesterday and something has changed. It's been happening over the last few weeks really but it is like he has suddenly left babyhood behind. He is more content to entertain himself and his brother, he is able to communicate what he wants, his likes and dislikes and make deliberate choices. He has had fewer and fewer tantrums and has been listening better and wanting to please. He actually picked up his blocks today when I asked him the first time. Well, he got through about half of them before getting distracted but that's a huge start!

Over the weekend we had a two family parties for him. At the first, his cousins Quincy and Chloe and friend Ava were there so we had Sesame Street decorations and an Elmo pinata. Liam didn't really understand what the pinata was but Chloe, who is 3, gave Elmo a great big hug and told him "Elmo, you have candy in you" before she bashed him over the head.