Mason's first: Dentist visit

Distraction by rubber gove

Getting to sit on Mom's lap

Say "Ah"

The first visit was a smooth one. M's teeth are spaced nicely (according to the dentist) and he has 4 molars that have yet to come in over the next several months. We're going to practice flossing and getting Mase to actually spit the toothpaste instead of swallowing it. Other than that, success!

A Day in the Life: 2 years

Normally, I don't add anything but captioned photos to the "A Day in the Life" posts, but I have to share our shot experience from the doctor's office yesterday. After the doctor finished with her exam and we said goodbye, as I got Mason dressed I explained to him, "A nurse is going to come in next and she is going to give you a poke in the arm and it's going to feel like a pinch."

Mason repeated, "Poke in the arm, feel like a pinch."

"That's right," I told him, "and when she's finished we'll go back into the lobby and see the fish again."

"Go see fish", Mason replied.

So in comes the nurse and her needle. I take Mason's left arm out of his shirt and he doesn't take his eyes off the nurse as she sticks the needle in his arm.

Nothing.

Not even a flinch!

She pulled out the needle, grabbed the Band Aid, and Mason wanted to help her put it on.

THAT. IS. IT.

No crying, no tears, no screaming.

Just me and the nurse, looking at each other like, "Did that just happen?"

And off we went, to see the fish.

Such a great day with this little two year old! :)

Paci free

Three weeks now without a pacifier!

I'm not gonna lie, the first two nights were rough.

It is so nice to be free of it though. No more searching the back seat of the car while driving, looking for a pacifier that has been chucked. No more clamoring for binkys in that middle of the night in the dark that have been flicked out of the crib.

Of couse two top teeth decided that as soon as we went paci-less was their perfect opportunity to break through. So, maybe the tough part lasted slightly longer than two nights.

But, we're free.

And now Mason has a matching set of top teeth for those bottom two that came in 4 months ago.

Yippee!

In case you were wondering

It's not always this neat when Mase uses a spoon.

In fact, it looks a lot more like this.

And this.

(Notice his hair sticking straight out on the left there, thanks to the brown rice and lentil mixture.)

Independent

My weekly "your baby this week" email came yesterday and it referred to my child as a toddler.

What?!

 

 I guess this is evidence.

Food actually made it from the spoon into Mason's mouth this morning-- several times in a row!

The funny part is he stopped to clap after each bite (can you tell I was cheering him on?)

Mason's First: Tooth

One down (er, up?)

A mouth full to go...

9 Months

Every time I thought about this post over the last few days in my head I've thought of it as Mason's "6 month post"-- then I have to correct myself. He is 9 months now.

Nine.

How is that even possible?

We visited the doctor last week and here are the vitals: 20 lbs. 14 oz. and 27 1/2 inches. Three pounds heavier and about the same height as his 6 month check up. I'm not sure how accurate the height measurement ever is, Mason is so squirmy!

"Please no shots!"

(His expression in that picture cracks me up. In reality he's trying to stuff that tissue paper into his mouth like a little squirrel while I am distracted by snapping pictures.)

Mason is cruising all over the place these days and gravitates toward anything with a button he can push or a wire he can pull. His new favorite thing is to point at everything and ask, "That?" He will point at an object and ask over and over (and over) just to hear you say the name and make sure it's still the same as the last time. His arm is constantly pointing!

We are absolutely loving watching him grow and learn.
This whole parenting thing? Awesome.

Nutrition

Mason is almost 9 months! I can't believe he has been now been outside of my body a month longer than he was inside of it. What a difference a year and a half can make.

My aunt commented this week that she is amazed at what Mason will eat (her youngest is super picky) and it got me to thinking that he really has had quite a variety of foods in 4 short months of eating solids...

• Bananas
• Apples
• Pears
• Mangoes
• Tomatoes
• Avocados
• Plums
• Peaches
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Honeydew melon
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Figs (his FAVORITE)
• Spinach
• Yellow Squash
• Zucchini
• Sweet Potatoes
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Pumpkin
• Oatmeal
• Brown rice
• Egg yolk
• Lentils
• Split peas
• Fish
• Chicken
• Cheese
• Yogurt
• Whole wheat bagel/bread

The best part is that so far there is nothing he refuses to eat. Of course he prefers apple sauce and yogurt over lentils or squash, but who doesn't? He is his mommy's baby and loooves his fruit. I know we need to expose him to more meat and get some beef in his diet-- any other suggestions? What foods am I missing? We are still making our own baby food and so much of the produce this summer came right out of Grandpa Flint's garden. Sooo yummy and completely organic.

We are definitely counting ourselves lucky to have such a great eater!

So, what else can I feed a 9 month old???

From zero to sixty

On Tuesday Mason figured out the crawling thing. As you can see from the video, we sat him down and off he went-- toward anything with a cord to pull. Today he has decided he is over crawling and it is now just a means to get him over to anything he can use to pull himself up on.

Exhibit A:
Other firsts today include eating lentils (so far this kid will eat anything, yay!!!)...
...and successfully using a sippy cup (not 100% of the time, mind you.)

Also note that Mason's feet appear to almost be too big for those SIZE 12-24 MONTH socks he has on.

Our Baby Valone is growing entirely too fast, in every sense.

Moving forward

A couple of weeks ago Mase figured out how to get up on all fours and got the hang of rocking forward and backward.

Today he showed me he can work his way forward! Granted, it is really, really slow (and pretty darn funny) but he's making progress!

It goes something like this:
- Straighten your legs and shove your butt in the air like you're doing a push-up, with your arms straight out in front of you.
- Bring one knee in underneath your body.
- Bring the other knee in so you're on all fours.
- Lunge forward and face plant.
- Repeat.

He is so proud of himself (not to mention exhausted) when he finally gets where he wants to go. In this case he was rewarded with the camera strap to chew on. Yum...