9 Months!

James is 3/4 of a year old!  Crazy.  He's changed a lot recently...

- He is getting his first tooth!  I noticed it a few days ago because his gums were red.  I could see it below his gums, but I couldn't feel anything.  Yesterday I could feel his tooth when I stuck my finger in his mouth.  That little white tooth is sharp!

- He finally rolled over!  In the past month he's rolled over once from his back to his belly and once from his belly to his back.  So he's not rolling around everywhere by any stretch of the imagination, but he's proved to me that he can do it. 

- He's starting to rock and scoot.  When he's sitting up, sometimes he rocks back and forth like he wants to go somewhere.  Sometimes he gets too ahead of himself and he falls down on his face/arms and ends up on his tummy.  He's also started scooting when he's on his back.  When he's on the rug or play mat, he sometimes scoots off.  When we put him on the hardwoods, he scoots right across the room!  He thinks it's all fun until he hits his head on the wall or a piece of furniture. 

- He's still not eating solids.  But I'm still not worried.  I'm just taking his lead.  I'm planning on letting him wean from nursing whenever he wants, so I guess I'll take the same approach with solids - let him tell me when he's ready.  I'm sure that he/his body intuitively knows what he needs. 

- He is such a fun kid.  He loves to be tickled and he smiles and laughs all the time.  He has the best laugh - it always melts my heart. 

- He weighs somewhere between 21.5-22 pounds.  I haven't weighed him recently, but we go to the doctor later this month for his routine visit so I'll weigh him then. Update: He weighed 21 pounds and 4 ounces when we weighed him at 9 months and 9 days old.

And the pictures from this month -

It was cool one day so I got to try out some of his new (from consignment sales) winter clothes. I'm loving consignment sale shopping and he has some pretty cute stuff coming up for the fall/winter. 

I give him one opportunity a day to try to eat.  Even though he doesn't actually eat, he sure finds ways to get food everywhere.  He got avocado in his ear and on his eyelashes.  Really, James?

 For that reason, I prefer giving him foods that are not as messy.  I don't think he agrees with me though-

Getting the hang of tummy time. 

 Tummy time wears him out sometimes.  So then he just gives up and lays there.

 Family pic!  We were getting ready to watch the first Panthers game.  I did a very positive post on that, but it didn't end well.

 He's scooting.  He got off his play mat and on the hardwoods.  I took this picture just before he started scooting across the room. 

I love wearing James, but I also have a bad back (I had back surgery when I was 16).  So, I tried out our stroller for the first time in several months last week.  James loves it.  It puts him in some type of calm trance when we're walking.  Yesterday he took a quick cat nap in the stroller at the end of our walk.  It's nice because it gives my back a break and neither of us are hot on these long summer walks.

But I still think that he likes us to wear him more than anything.  We were shopping with him at Lowes here-

This kid loved playing in the dirt!  I love this sweet big baby so much :)