Ozzy is 9 months old!

yesterday we had ozzy's 9 month check up. he's still in the 20th %tile for weight, just under the 50th %tile for length, and around the 70th %tile for head circumference. he's lost so much of the baby fat he had in the early months...maybe because he's so mobile? he is still taking only 3 oz of milk at a time and feeding thru the night. the doc says i could probably cut out his night feeds, but i worry he's not getting enough during the day...he probably only gets around 15 oz of breastmilk during the day...well under the recommended 24 oz a day. so i feel like he still needs to feed at night. i am going to try to only offer him milk in a bottle at night from now on and try to see if he is waking from hunger or just waking to comfort nurse. i know he wont take a bottle if he's not really hungry. so we'll try that. if it ends up he really is hungry, i'll continue to nurse him thru the night until his first birthday.

ozzy is taking in more solids. i still can't tell if he's really chewing. his eating technique seems to consist of rolling food around in his mouth, saturating it with so much drool that it breaks down, and then swallowing it. sometimes he cries out after swallowing and i suspect the chunk hadn't sufficiently moistened and bloated with enough spit and must have been hard and solid when swallowed.

he's been 'chewing' small bits of mozzerella cheese, pancakes, fresh melons, avocados, bananas, breads, flakes of white fish, steamed rice, whole peas, potatoes, and of course the usual array of jarred organic baby food. he does not like pasta.

these food escapades do make for some messy clothes though. he HATES wearing his bibs. (we have a cute dr. seuss one that we got as a gift that i think is just darling, but of course, he can't stand it!) when the weather is warmer i'll have to just feed him in just his diapers. otherwise, he's got on clothes with several layers of food and chunks of hardened semi broken down baby puffs firmly welded onto a pant leg or sleeve and by evening there's a haze of radioactive green gasses coming off of him.

or i may have to make him a smock like i did for mimi when she was little. maybe i can find a way to 'boy' it up, so it doesnt look like he's wearing a girl's pinafore.

today, he took one step by himself towards mimi...only the second time he's tried walking on his own. he is standing more regularly on his own, but it's not every day that he'll walk a step or two by himself. it usually happens when he is really interested in reaching something and just happens to be standing when he sees it. otherwise he just crawls everywhere. he is such a fast crawler! i especially love how he'll suddenly revv up his speed when he knows i'm after him. like when he spies something he wants that he shouldnt have, and he senses i'm about to head him off at the pass, he'll squeal and start crawling at top speed to try to beat me to it...and some times he does! he's preeeetty quick!

he's lately really gotten into screaming. like high pitched, top of his lungs screams. i guess i should stop watching things like Baby Mama on HBO around him. every time amy poehler screamed in that movie, ozzy would scream back [shaking head].