9 Months

Charlotte is 9 months old! She's getting so big. Crawling everywhere. Trying so hard to stand up on her own. She can do a couple seconds so far. She eats just about everything. Including legos. She swallowed one yesterday, so we are waiting and hoping to see that again in a day or so. First kid to swallow something, so I guess that's doing pretty good.

 

She's 26 pounds, 1 ounce, 28.5 inches. 100th percentile in weight, and 80th percentile in height. She has 7 teeth now! Working on more, too. She's a healthy girl, and she scored high on the developmental screening they do each time we go in. The Autism rate is so high these days, that many clinics are having us fill out a screening sheet at each well child visit to make sure they are on track. She's even using a sippy sometimes with water.

 

 

 

One of my favorite pics of her! That toothy grin makes her look so much older.

Sleepy girl! Love those chubby rolls! I know they will be gone so soon. She's already slimming down some.

 

Climbing! Another new skill. She can climb up stairs as well. She's quite excited about that, but she's very cautious, too. She can also get off the couch by herself. She just backs up to the edge and slides right down to the floor.

 

For Mother's Day, I decided to take a pic of all my kids. They cooperated for the most part.

 

Wrestling on the floor! These kids are so fun to watch when they're getting along

 

Gabriel's evaluations went well. He qualified under Autism Spectrum Disorder through the school, and will be starting special ed preschool in the Fall, 3 days per week, for a few hours per day. The MN Autism Center hasn't officially gotten back to me yet, but I do know that he will be starting in-home therapy toward the end of the month. I've had more time to work with him on certain things, and he's been doing well with that. We have some new challenges as well. He's decided he doesn't like to be dressed, so throughout the day I have to re-dress him, including his diaper. It's been frustrating. It seems to be part of his new independence/growth thing. Hopefully the undressing part of the phase will move on shortly! At least I can now add "undresses self" to his new list of things he can do all by himself. Yay for progress? His Ferritin wasn't high enough yet, it went from 10 to 13 in 3 months, and it needs to be above 22. So they doubled his dose and he gets a re-check in 3 months.

Both boys started Special Olympics last week. They have Young Athletes, which is a program for kids under 8 years old. They do obstacle courses, run relays in the hallway and have lots of fun while being active. It's great for Gabriel, to be able to move in different ways, work on jumping, side stepping, and other things that are difficult for him. It's great for Dawson to get some more exercise in, too. It's weekly for 6 weeks, so we should get some good fun this summer from that. It's great for wearing them both out! They even came home and were both sitting still on the couch, peacefully! It's such a rare sight, I had to take a pic.

 Yesterday we went to the park. First time at the splash pad this year. They loved it. Dawson ran right in. Gabriel splashed his feet, but never went fully in to get wet. Last year he did go in, so I'm sure he will warm up to it eventually. Charlotte's only interest was eating the wood chips from the playground. They were climbing on this merry go round the most. Dawson is really getting brave! He wouldn't climb above the ring in the middle before, and Gabriel has never climbed a rope ladder. Gabriel got really brave, and went all the way to the top! I was nervous, because he has low muscle tone and not great coordination sometimes, but thankfully he's cautious and did very well.

 

 He's looking so much older these days! Still can't believe this boy is a school kid, let alone heading into 2nd grade! Crazy.

 

 Yikes! He made it, but he looks a bit worried. He just had to get onto that very last step though!

 

 Cautiously heading back down

 

 Love this pic! Was Dawson's idea.

 

 Monkeys sleep in trees. He recently went to the zoo for a field trip, so he had to try it.

 

 Dawson started Miracle League Baseball last week. We just caught the last few weeks of the session though, then it starts back up in August, which will be fine. He wasn't sure if he'd like it, but he had a lot of fun. It was sad last night though, there are some very handicapped kids in it. There are a few in wheelchairs with no muscle tone, on oxygen and unable to do much at all. Dawson asked me "how can we make them better, mom?". We've seen many kids like that from the hospital, so I know he relates them to being sick. I told him that some kids can't walk, so they need wheelchairs and other things to help them get around and have fun, but they might not be sick. He said "oh, ok", and that was that. He's still playing with the tee. Some kids don't use it. I might see if he wants to try without it next time.

 

 Running the bases! The kids can choose how many bases they want to run. Nobody strikes out, there are no points, no winning team. It's all for fun, and they have lots of it!

 

 Dawson and Angie, who is his therapist that goes with him. They have to have a "buddy" to help them out on the field, so that works perfect.

 

 Waiting for a ball that's rolling at him. Love his stance.

 

 Throwing a ball back to the pitcher. They have many balls. Once someone hits a ball, someone else throws a few extras onto the field to keep the other team happy and give them something to do.

 

 The dugout. He played so hard, he needed an extra long break. He often sits out for a little longer instead of being on the field. I love how they are flexible with whatever the kids are ok with doing.

 

 Charlotte spends her time standing against the bleachers, making the grandma ladies drool over her. She's got them all figured out.

 

 She's quite the ham when she wants to be!

 

 Love the tongue!

 

 Dawson usually runs his bases 2 at a time. Many kids do that.

 

 He makes everyone laugh. He squats and does the concentrated hover of the bat for a while before he swings. It's pretty funny.

 

 Gabriel and Charlotte were playing in the stroller toward the end of the game. They were giggling and tickling each other.

 

Gabriel fell asleep in a container today. We've had a busy week, but he was too stubborn to lay down and nap. I did transfer him to the couch and he took a good nap. :)

 

Gabriel decided he wanted eggs for lunch...

 

"Look mom, I put Charlotte in here!" They are on the platform of our indoor slide.

 

 

Last day of school! He came home with cat whiskers. He's so cute!

 

9 month comparisons