Show off

(Zander almost standing on his own on Monday - he's leaning back against the couch.)

Zander was quite the show off for the doctor yesterday. Within the first minute he said "hi" "thank you" and "ba-ba." He also stood on his own, using one hand on the leg of the examining table to balance. He showed off his pincer grasp, which he has down solid now. His doctor was amazed and praised him mightily. He weighed in at 16 lbs. 4 ozs. which puts him in the 2nd percentile. The doctor struggled to say this was okay - because of course someone has to be 1st and 2nd and 95th percentile for there to be a range and this is a range of NORMAL sized healthy babies but there are a lot of people out there in our country who think a baby whose weight is in the 95th percentile is somehow superior to one in the 2nd percentile. Bulwacky. What I see going on - and the doctor herself although she's maintaining some caution just in case something develops I suppose - is that Zander does not have the genetics of a large person (I'm 5'3" and Matt's 5'8"ish) and Zander is very active. Very. He eats a lot, in case any of you reading this blog missed that part. For breakfast this morning (and yesterday morning) he ate a whole banana and a couple fistfuls of cheerios (my fistful).

2nd percentile. Whatever. My mother heard that the one true sign of genius in a baby is how early they talk - not when they walk or crawl or eat solid foods. Okay. But what is genius without oppotunities and a good home-life and room to explore the world and freedom to think his own thoughts?

(Zander loves to feed himself squash.)

Our work is far from done.

9 Months old

Well... today Zander is 9 months old. We marked the occasion by taking him to see Dr. Greenly. She was very impressed with his progress. She really liked how much he was moving around and getting close to walking. She also was like how much he is talking to people.

New things of note are that the Dr. pointed out two more teeth that will be coming in soon.. so that should be fun for Carol. This time they are on the top. She also told us some more things that Zander can start eating including some cheese and some meat. For lunch Zander has his first taste of cottage cheese which he wasn't totally sure of. I am sure we will try it again in the future.

Right now its almost 10 pm and Zander is refusing to go to be. He is running around terrorizing him Mom and Cujo.

Matt

Ground and center

(Zander on Sunday night.)

He's balancing. Sometimes he lets go. Or his stationary object walks away. And he pauses there, standing on two legs, before he sways and abruptly sits down on his rear. He can crawl up the stairs pretty fast and he goes all the way (with the occasional pit stop to turn around and sit down and say hello to his spotter). I've tried to get photos and/or video but, well, it all happens so fast and I can't run a camera and catch the boy when he decides to sit down on thin air.

His singular task in life is to clear every horizontal surface in his reach. And to taste the cat food but so far that plan has failed.

But he's sooooo cute.

Up up up DOWN

Zander is regularly climbing the stairs - when he can get to them. We keep them gated off for most of the day. He even tries to go back down but his prefered method is head-first...so we are working on that. The other day, he did try and sit down and scoot one leg and then the other over the edge of the stair but even that is awkward for someone with no balance. Crawling down backwards is still confusing - he tries to go up if you position him to go down. All in good time.

No second tooth yet, just the hint of it. Just the afternoon whining and moaning until someone more interesting than mom comes home. If the front door is open, Zander is drawn to it like a moth to the light. He crawls over and stands at the storm door, peering out at the world, at the children playing after school. I got to see this from the outside when I dashed out to the car to get his diaper bag this morning. DAMN CUTE. You can see just his little round head and little round blue eyes. We can't wait until it gets warmer so he can play outside. He's very curious.

Nothing dramatically new. He's getting faster, stronger, heavier every day. He had a cold earlier this week and rubbed his snot all over me. Seems now that I have the same cold I am not extended the same priviledges.