Hodges Happenings: Andrew is 9 months old.....already!!!

Andrew is one busy little guy!

He is such a delight and is so go-with-the-flow, by necessity and by nature. He is such a happy, smiley little guy. He loves getting attention from other people and mostly smiles every time someone talks to him. Of course, if someone is holding him and he sees Mommy walk away he gets upset and suffers a little bit of seperation anxiety, but usually only in a crowd. He already loves wrestling with his big brother, and Hudson is more gentle with him than I ever thought he could be. He gets so excited he giggles and waves his arms and legs when Hannah gets in the van when we pick her up from school. She's so sweet and gentle and protective of him too. He sure does have a great big brother and big sister! They forget and leave little things out where he can grab them sometimes, but mostly they do what they can to take care of him and keep him safe. They pull him out from under chairs and away from the TV when Mommy is not in the room to do it. They're great helpers!

As for Andrew, he's a pretty awesome little brother too. I have to wake him early from naps almost daily, whether it be to pick Hannah up from school or go walking with a friend (or both), but he puts a smile on his face and justs goes with it. I just can't figure out a way to have a schedule where he is always eating on time and getting full naps and going to bed on time and having it work every day of the week. If it's possible, I just don't know how.

Most days he gets up between 7:00 and 7:30 (I'm hoping he adjusts with the time change and this doesn't become 6:00!), eats then plays until first nap between 9:00 and 9:30. He sleeps until 10:30 or 11:30 then eats lunch between 11:30 and noon, depending on whether or not we're home. He goes down for a nap again between 12:30 and 1:30. During the week we pick up Hannah from school a little before 3:00 then come home and eat again. Most of the time he needs a third nap, though this is getting harder. He goes down by 5:00 and has to be up by 6:00 to go to bed at 8:00. On days he doesn't have a third nap I try to get him to bed at 7:00 or 7:30. He sleeps so hard during this nap and doesn't like being wakened. I guess he may think it's bedtime. So, I'd like to phase out this last nap but am unsure of how to do it with picking up Hannah from school disrupting that second nap.

He drinks 26 ounces a day and eats carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, sweet peas, and green beans. He also eats many fruits as well as mixed grain cereal, brown rice cereal, oatmeal, and barley.He is beginning to be hard to feed because he is so squirmy, but almost always finishes his bottle and food. He is very enthusiastic about his baby food...even the peas!

He wears mostly 12-18 month clothes, though he is beginning to bust out of his 18 month footed pajamas.

New and important things about this month:

His favorite thing to do is play on the floor with his toys.

His least favorite thing is having his clothes changed.

He army crawls and rolls to get wherever he wants.....still no interest in using his knees to crawl, but he's getting up on them more and more.

He says "Mama" all the time and says "Da-de" sometimes.

He stomps his right foot when you help him stand.

He waves (sort-of)- He waves his arms and hands up and down a lot when others are saying goodbye. He got bored with all of the newborn toys and rattles as well as the exersaucer, and I had to get out some bigger baby toys. It seems like I just packed them all up!

He's really vocal, especially when we're all singing. He makes lots of "busy" sounds too.