Somos Licatas: 9 months

Isaac's voyage into 9 monthood started off with a bang... literally. A big fall caused an impressive bruise on his face, which was quickly followed up by what has been diagnosed as an ear infection piggybacked on some kind of virus. His discomfort, high fevers, and sleeplessness has had our whole house (including Rufus) feeling down in the dumps for a week now (hence, the delay in this post).

Rufus, staging a "sick-in" in solidarity with Isaac.

Taking it easy.

sick face

very sick face. you can also get a good look at the fading bruise on his right cheek.

Thankfully, he seems to be on the mend, and he'll hopefully be back to his normal self very soon. We miss our active boy!

At 9 months old he is still a great eater and is slowly starting to get down more at each meal. Pickles, beans and pears are his favorites right now.

We've also hit our breastfeeding stride... finally! About a month after his tongue and lip release, he regressed to biting again, but just when I thought I had reached my limit yet again something clicked. He has figured out how to use his tongue to its full potential. I couldn't believe this, but Joe reminded me that we weren't even 90 days out from his procedure and he was probably still working out all the kinks in his upgraded instrument. Now, we are enjoying pain-free, relaxed nursing (which has been a huge comfort to him while sick). Better late than never! I have renewed hope of reaching my initial goal of one year of breastfeeding.

Early last month, he started to say "mama" and shortly after that a very pronounced "Dada". Although he uses those words to call to us, they also have several other meanings.

"Mama" means:

"nurse"
"I want something."
"Pick me up."
"Stop changing my diaper and let me nurse."
"No, Dad, I don't want you."
"Seriously, nurse me already!"

"Dada" aptly means:

"Look at that!"
"I'm interested in something. Let's talk about it."
"I'm happy with this."
"Let's play!"

Here's some Dada time:

age appropriate reading

more age appropriate reading - brushing up on his foreign policy

He love, love, loves to stand. He's cruising around furniture, standing unassisted for short periods, and climbing the stairs!

He gets very excited when I open the dishwasher. Hopefully, this will turn into a zest for kitchen cleaning!


Always on tip toes

He is as playful as ever and has picked up some funny play time habits. One in particular is that prefers to have something in each hand while playing. More specifically, he likes it to be two matching or corresponding items. For example, he'll often tote around his wooden music block in one hand and the stick that goes with it in the other. Or from his big pile of toys he'll pluck out the only two shells and proudly take them to his next standing position.