Levi 9 months

Levi is 9 months old!

Gone are the days of our solemn, stoic little baby. Levi has really come alive this month, and become a goofy, excitable, LOUD, fun little guy. He definitely recognizes and gets excited about his siblings. And he shrieks! A lot. 

Jonah says: Mom, look at Levi!  Doesn't he look like "Mod-mo" Ghandi??

 

He has recently cut two new teeth (in addition to the two he already had), and there are 4 or 5 others that seem like they could pop through at any time. He picks up food like a champ and is self-feeding well (though, he tends to get a lot of food stuck on the roof of his mouth, haha). He likes meat and veggies whole and fruit puréed. So far, not too much he won't eat.

His little feathery-fine hair is getting very blonde! It still sticks straight up in the middle, and we think he looks a little like Jack Jack Parr from The Incredibles. His eyes are most definitely brown! We only make them one way, apparently.

Levi doesn’t babble, “ma ma ma.” He says “Mom. Mooom. Mommmm.” I’m not sure it’s necessarily directed at me, but it sounds so grown up, and I love it!

He’s starting to pick up on routines. When Brandon puts him to bed, they read a story, then turn on the sound machine - then he will turn and point at the light switch, and help switch off the light. He gets excited and impatient when I put him in the high chair or pull out my nursing cover - food is coming! When I unbuckle him from his car seat, he always brings his hands to the center, through the straps. the lifts them up and out (like he’s doing the breaststroke), then waits - hands in the air - for me to grab him under the armpits, out of the seat :)

Levi is still sort of belly crawling, but he really gets around! He crawls on his elbows (so he can carry things in his hands), but also sort of up on his knees, with his little bum waggling around in the air, haha. He also does a lot of side lounging, I think because it frees up one of his hands to move stuff around.

Levi loves to give kisses...to Mom! He will grab my face with both hands and plant a big slobbery, open-mouth kiss on my face.  When Brandon asks for a kiss, Levi will often look at him, then turn to me and kiss me instead :) He is a mama's boy, for sure. And he also thinks he's hilarious.

Just like all our other kids, he loves to smooch that handsome baby in the mirror (or mirrored trash can)

We sure love this little guy. He is already working hard to try and keep up with the bigger kids. He's been a great addition to this little crew, and we have enjoyed watching him grow and develop and learn these past 9 months.

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UPDATE:  On Sunday night, we were eating dinner with our house church, and I fed Levi two tiny little bites of a meatball (that I had brought, mind you), before remembering that the meatballs contained eggs! Doh! Our past experience told us that we had about two hours before paying the consequences of that little mistake. Just as I suspected, as we were driving home, Levi started vomiting in his car seat. I had put a bib on him for the car ride, but it did not do much to contain the mess. This picture poorly characterizes his mood through this ordeal; I think he was just happy to be out of the car. (It also gives the impression that he vomited "a little bit" - in reality, there were somehow pools of vomit under and around him.)

Our past experience with our "egg intolerant" children has been that it takes about 2 hours clear the system once it starts - with vomiting episodes every 10-20 minutes. So I got Levi cleaned up, and he and Brandon hunkered down to watch some football until it was over. Then I finally got him settled and in bed. Poor buddy :(