Steven's 9 Months!

All you have to do is look at our pool to know that our neighborhood has a lot of families with young kids. I was anxiously anticipating its opening so that I could introduce Steven to the pool. I even put him in his little kiddie pool in the backyard the day before it opened to get him used to the idea (you can see those pics in the 8th month montage below). Well, he definitely wasn't as excited as I was; he wanted me to hold him and still made groaning noises when I lowered us into the water. I assume the biggest problem he has is that the water's kind of cold right now- bath time is the only experience he has with large bodies of water and it's pretty warm. He did finally "warm-up" (no pun intended) to the pool and eventually sat in his float and watched the older kids play when I took him by myself. I took him last Wed. (the day it opened) and then Charlton and I (with camera in tow) went on Saturday. You'll notice the dark, looming clouds in the background; we only stayed about 30 min. considering the clouds and Steven's lack of enthusiasm. Steven's favorite part was sitting in Charlton's lap eating Cheerios and drinking out of C's water bottle. Hopefully, he'll discover what a great relief it is from the Texas heat.

Scoop on Steven at 9 Months:

• He is 19 lbs. 12 oz. (50% for both)
• His first top tooth FINALLY broke through this weekend and it looks like the one next to it will follow soon.
• His favorite toys are balls, cars (anything with wheels), and his walker.
• He is transitioning into eating bites of "big" food; his favorites are cheese, pears, bananas, and toast.
• We are in the process of weaning (insert a BIG "yea!" here from me). I didn't expect to be doing it this soon but my milk production suddenly dropped so my body has decided that it's time. Thankfully, Steven is transitioning beautifully (I guess because he's hungry and so active now). The only down side I see right now is that my hormones, and so by association my body, are going crazy right now- making me crazy. However the upside is the I have a lot more freedom...YEA!
• He has outgrown his size 2 shoes so I'm going to have to go shoe shopping soon for my son! A first for me and kind of nuts.
• Daddy is his favorite person right now (this probably helps with the weaning too). Steven actually cried one morning this week when I took him from Charlton so C could go to work. He has said Da-Da several times but said it to Charlton for the first time this weekend.
• We think that he did his first baby sign this weekend- the one for "all done." We were really excited that we might have a way to communicate through our issues with the highchair and feeding time. This morning a friend thought he might have done the sign for "more." The funny but frustrating thing for me is that he'll repeat and say words that I teach him several times but then isn't really interested a few days later until I teach him another one. So, he's said several things (ball, bye-bye, Da-Da) but after a few days he won't say them anymore. So much for educational progress...