9 Months

Active.  That best describes Ben at this point in time.  All he wants, all day long, is to be on the floor army crawling and rolling from toy to toy.  You try to hold him for cuddles and tickles and he twists and flails till you put him right back where he was.  He's on a mission.  A mission to get all Sam's things and to figure out how to do a "real" crawl.  In fact he's so focused on this crawling mission that he sometimes has trouble sleeping.  He will roll over in his crib onto his tummy, push that butt up in the air, and try to do push ups with his arms to get himself up on all fours.  All the while with his sleepy eyes squeezed shut and crying because he wants to sleep, just can't relax enough to do it.  Consequently, he has spent a few nights in the past week or so sleeping in his swing. (Yes, we moved the swing to the nursery.)

Ben really is a one baby brute squad.  Compared to other babies right around his age he seems like a tiny giant.  Which makes it all the more interesting to see just how each baby in our playdate group develops differently.  Julie can sit up on her own with no need for supervision.  Casey and Angelina are both starting solid table foods with little interest in baby food purees anymore.  Ben is a display of brute strength, but can't do either of those things yet.

Anywho:
~ My 9 monther army crawls like it's his full time job.
~ Within the past week has started doing the "planking" motion of getting his belly completely off the ground, just can't quite seem to figure out how to get his knees up under him when his front half is already raised.
~ Is on stage 2 baby foods and puffs (broken into 3 pieces).  Will gnaw on whatever I am eating, but have to be careful he doesn't actually break off a piece or he gags on it.
~ Has officially captured Sam's full attention.  Now that Ben is mobile Sam spends most of his day crawling along side Ben and imitating whatever Ben is doing.  It's a game to them.  Just have to watch Sam for when he grabs Ben by the ankles and tries to drag him around the living room floor.
~ Is wearing mostly 12 month clothes.  But even some of those are snug since the latest growth spurt.  In his arsenal of outfits he even has a few 24 month rompers I've been putting on him.
~ Can't make up his mind if he wants to sleep through the night or not.  He'll go 4 or 5 nights sleeping like a champ, then for the next week be up 2 or 3 times a night.  It's kind of exhausting because your body just doesn't know what to expect and so can't get used to one routine.  Part of the problem is we tend to hurry to Ben when he's crying overnight so he doesn't wake Sam up.  But we just might have to do a week of putting up with Sam night waking so we can get this overnight situation resolved.  In the end everyone will be better for it.
~ CAN FEED HIMSELF A BOTTLE!  You guys, seriously.  This is something Sam refused to do and so I am beside myself with hysteric joy that Ben FEEDS HIMSELF.  You just put him on the floor and hand him a bottle.  That's it.  My life is suddenly so much easier!
~ So far this summer Ben has yet to enjoy water play.  No sprinkler or baby pool action for him.  He's not interested.  Not even a toe dip is tolerated.  Hopefully he doesn't flip out when we go on our beach vacation in August.
~ Is on the verge of outgrowing the infant car seat.  We might stretch this a little longer than we should because vacation will be easier with a car seat we can carry a sleeping baby around in.  But after that it's time to spend a few hundred dollars on yet another car seat.

Dr Stats:
          Height - 30.75 inches, above 99%
          Weight - 21 pounds 7 ounces, 79%
          Head Size - above 99%

Skunky Time!