January with Graham Canyon

Back in early December I posted about Graham at eight months old, and talked about how he was kind of impatient, grumpy baby. Right after that, he started spitting up a ton (like ten times a day), and the doctor recommended we try him on soy formula. Not only did he stop spitting up, he also got a lot happier. He's still pretty impatient--what baby isn't?--but he doesn't cry any time I put him down and there is so much less shrieking and screaming than there was before. Hooray! It makes me sad to think that he was crying all that time because his tummy was hurting him, but at least we solved the problem for him. I think it also helps that at 9 1/2 months old now, he's much more coordinated and able to move himself around and do what he wants to, which helps him stay entertained by himself, at least a little bit.

He is about 90% of the way to crawling. He can army crawl (only using his right arm to scoot himself) if he's really motivated--like if he sees an outlet really close within reach if he moves himself--but he doesn't do it all that often. He still likes to just get up on his hands and knees, rock back and forth, do the plank, and eventually screech angrily until he gets rescued. He is OBSESSED with a few things: opening our kitchen cabinets and playing with the cords to the blinds. Unfortunately, neither one of these things are in his reach unless we are standing, holding him right in front of them. So when Tommy is home he spends a lot of time doing that while I finish dinner. He also REALLY likes the remotes that control our ceiling fans.

 He LOVES taking baths with Dane, hates going into his bedroom because he always thinks he's getting put down for his nap, loves eating real people food, and is happy whenever he's doing anything with Dane. He is drinking three bottles a day, at normal meal times. He takes two pretty good naps every day, which I love. He goes down for his nap really easily--usually he acts like he doesn't want us to rock him at all, which is a little sad, but at least it's convenient. The hardest hour of the day for him is the one when I'm trying to make dinner. But isn't it always?

 Oh! And the best thing of all--about two weeks ago he started babbling and saying "Dadadada." He had never said any syllables before, basically just yelling all the time (happy and angry) and it is the cutest thing ever to hear him talking to himself. He just woke up one morning saying it. Isn't that amazing how that happens? I guess there always has to be a first time, but it's just like something clicked in his brain that wasn't working before then.

I came in to get him up from his nap the other day and he was sitting up playing in the corner of his crib. He looked so proud of himself! No wonder I'd heard him talking to himself for a long time and he was totally happy to stay in his bed without me coming to get him. Looks like we might have to lower his crib soon.

It's really cute: I am able to put them both in the toy room to play while I work on dinner, and Dane will happily play in there with his trains and Graham will roll around from toy to toy, and I peek in on them every other minute to make sure Graham didn't find any random thing to choke on. But they are playing happily together (or at least in the same room) and it's the cutest thing! And so convenient for me! Graham is really interested in cars and trucks already at this age. He loves spinning their wheels and seeing how they work. He's going to be a little engineer! He's totally bored with the baby toys we have; all he wants are Dane's toys. We might as well just put those baby toys away. 

I love love love that he can sit in the grocery cart now! It makes my life so much easier!

Two brothers. So cute and sweet together. Dane really, really, really is the sweetest big brother. He LOVES Graham. Whenever he comes out from his nap, he runs over to Graham and gives him the biggest hug. He is always laughing at funny things that Graham does, and whenever Graham's crying he says things like, "It's okay, Grammy! Big brudder is here! Mommy's right there! It's okay!" I never have to worry about them together. (Although I did catch Dane running around Graham and stepping on Graham's leg over and over again the other day. Graham didn't seem to be bothered but was more confused than anything. So they're not totally safe together still.)

I'm always telling Tommy that I just think babies get cuter and cuter and cuter with every stage. Graham's getting these enormous cheeks that just hang down when he's looking around and stick out to enormous lengths when he's smiling. I love love love them. He also has four teeth on the bottom and one and a half on the top--so he grinds them together all the time, which I hate, but when he does it his cheeks somehow expand out to the sides. And he reminds me so much of Dane at this age! People are always telling me that they look just the same, and it's hard for me to see. But I do know that Graham looks just like baby Dane did, so they probably do look at lot alike. 

We REALLY love our Graham boy.