PS – I should mention that Lex cut his 4th
tooth about a day after his third. We were on the road then, so
I wasn’t able to post promptly. :)

Lex had his 9-month “well child”
appointment today (check-up). Not surprisingly he’s doing
great. He is officially 19lbs and 27 inches, which means he
gained 2lbs and 3 inches since his 6-month visit. The doctor
was impressed with his crawling, standing, walking, and
talking. Sometimes I wonder if she gushes over every baby or
just the “truly advanced” ones :) He was crawling around on the
floor (in his diapers – so cute!) when she came in and he
crawled right over to her and started playing with her shoe.
She gushed, we bragged, and he didn’t need shots – so a good
morning was had by all.

We have a top tooth! And we’re on our way
to Franklin today. Yay! What a good day!

So I spent $14.95 on this fancy crawling toy a few months ago.
It has lights and music and its supposed to encourage baby to
crawl after it. Lex likes it well enough, but never crawls
after it. He sits on his butt and plays with it. But… give
that boy an empty bowl or a bottle of water and he’s all over
the house. It’s hysterical! I gave him a small bowl of Cheerios
on the floor today. He dumped the bowl, first thing, then
proceeded to pick up individual Cheerios, put them in the bowl,
and then eat them. One at a time. Then he ran out (as far as he
knew) and so he started throwing the bowl (yes, another new
trick) and crawling after it. When he’d get close to it his
hand would hit the bowl and it would got another few feet. He
made it all the way around the living room like this. I was
laughing so hard. Then he came full circle, back to where he
had been eating Cheerios, and found a little pile of them that
he’d been sitting on! So he got his bowl back, put the Cheerios
in it, and ate them. Funny baby :)

Lex is so smart. I love watching him
learn. We have two “interactive” books (one being Pat
the Bunny) and Lex knows exactly what to do on each
page. We don’t even read them much. He never liked them before,
but lately he’s taken a real interest. Pat the
Bunny has a page with a little mirror on it and Lex
always touches the mirror. Tonight we were reading a different
book and one page has a picture of a mirror on it. When I
turned to that page Lex reached out and touched the mirror (not
the rest of the pages, just the mirror). He’s so smart. I love
watching his eyes scan the pages when we read stories. And I’m
teaching him how to put the balls in the holes on the dragon
toy he got for Christmas. He tries very hard, but his
coordination needs refinement :) He’s just so much fun. It’s
amazing to watch him every day!

PS.
New photos on
Snapfish.

My little sister will be joining me at
Binghamton!! Or maybe I’m joining her? Either way –
yay!!

Lex is getting pretty good with “mammama”
and “daddadda” these days. He seems to use them pretty
consistently and accurately. Alan said that the other day when
I came home, Lex heard the car door shut and immediately
started saying “mamamama” and looking around at the door for
me. Good baby!! The drawback, of course, is that when he’s
crying himself to back to sleep in the middle of the night he
calls “mamamammama” and it breaks my heart. I’m sure he knows
what he’s doing because he doesn’t make any other words, just
wailing, sniffling, and “mamamamma”. Luckily he’s getting
better at sleeping, so he doesn’t have to cry himself back to
sleep too often.

I think the hardest part of being a parent
is the continual self-doubt. Just when you think you have the
hang of things, baby changes and does something different and
throws you for a loop. For example, Lex has been napping well
all week with little to no crying. Today, however, after a bad
night of sleep (for no apparent reason), he just wouldn’t go
down for a nap. He was obviously tired, but he cried and cried
for 1/2 hour until I finally gave in and nursed him to sleep. I
don’t even think he was hungry, just wanted to cuddle or
something. Was that the best thing to do? I don’t know. I
really don’t want to get back in the bad sleeping pattern, but
maybe he really needed something today. Who knows.

Good morning Tessa,

It is my pleasure to inform you that you have
been accepted into the Accelerated Program at the Decker school
of Nursing. Congratulations! …

Have a
great day!
Sincerely, Fran