9 Months Already

Yep, little Max has now been on the outside for as long as he was inside! He celebrated his 9 month birthday on Saturday, by going to the fruit and veg markets with us in the morning and then going to a friends 1st birthday party.
I thought it was about time for another checkup of his height and weight since it's been ages since we last went to the child health clicnic. So last Wednesday we went for a drive over there and put him on the scales. Max now weighs just over 10kgs and is 75cms tall. Both of these figures have him just above average for his age.
They also gave us a checklist of things that Max should be doing as a 9 month old, and fortunately he is doing pretty much of all of them. It includes things like

• distinguishing between familiar people and strangers
• recognising his own name
• sitting without support
• crawling/moving around and exploring surroundings
  
• picking up things and putting them in his mouth (he's been doing that for a very long time now!)
• using one finger to point or poke at items
  
• drinking from a cup and eating solid food
• playing peek-a-boo
• looking for fallen objects (and then dropping them again when I pick them up)
• speaking in babbling sounds.

He also loves to stand while holding onto people and furniture and loves to walk while I hold his hands. Noisy toys are his favourite, and if the toy doesn't make noise Max will often just bang on it with his hands, or bang it together with another toy, so that it does.

He is starting to seem more like a little boy than a baby, and is much more fun to hang out with during the day. He is also sleeping a lot less during the day and so I have to use my imagination a bit to think of activities to keep him happy and busy, so we've been going to the park in the pram or car much more often, which he really enjoys.

Anyway happy 9 month birthday Max! Congratulations on reaching this milestone and continuing to develop well.