The First Tooth is Coming!

Finally, after 9.5 months! A tiny bony part has peeked out of the lower left front part of the gum. Joe notices it when he hears this funny noise of his teeth clenching on the metal spoon today. Andy has been good, no crankiness during this teething phrase so far. He only drools more profusely in the last couple weeks. That's probably the sign for the tooth coming. If feels like a gardener waiting for the flowers to bloom. We watch him grow stronger by day, and finally see a flower bud.
He also starts this bottle strike since I return to work a couple of weeks ago, but finally ends the strike and takes the bottle more in the last couple days.

He makes a bunch of speech like sounds this morning (must have been a good dream); his sound vocabulary has grown a lot.

This apple will be easier soon eh?

9 mo Observations and Checkup Stats

* Emotional development: he starts to show likes and dislikes since a few weeks ago. For example, his attempts to share food with baby Tristan, his holding a hand out when Grandma Wang holds hers out to shake.

* Motor Skill: he can roll from back to tummy now. When he woke up at 4am on Friday (7/11), I found him propped up on his belly, laying widthwise in the crib! He turns easily when propped up on his arms now that he has more arm strength. He crawls backwards a little.

* He is taking a break from formula and becoming more interested in solids. He eats a whole bowl of food for both lunch and dinner now. It usually has an egg, mushy grains and veggies, tofu, meat or fish bits. He only takes some formula after both naps and before the second nap but loves nursing. I nurse him 3-4 times a day now: morning, lunch, and a couple times in the evening.

He has his 9 mo checkup on Thursday 7/17. He is now 18 lb 12 oz, 27 in, and 49.5 cm head circumference. The doctor says at his age, he should be taking about 20 oz of formula and breast milk combined, so I feel more relieved that he's getting that much ok.

Plein Air Demo and Drawing Session

We visited the Plein Air demo at the Fall City Art Studio on Saturday. I enjoyed watching the masters turn mundane scenery into art while Andy enjoyed the rib (for close to an hour, must be the best teething toy).
I took Andy to visit the drawing session on Sunday. People haven't seen him in a long time and all amazed how much he has grown. He sat on the floor and played intently by pulling things one by one out of the drawing bag for a good half hour, so I got some sketching done.

Posing with Bill

More pictures here.

July 4th at Juanita Beach Park

There is quite a bit of festivity going on at the Juanita Beach park today. We sat at a picnic table and listened to a band for a while.

Strangers came to play with Andy at times.

He's just chilling out enjoying the band.

There were lots of kids activities. I made him a making bracelet, and we played the Guess the Duck number game and won a toy.

Pictures here.

Grandma Wang

I got to know this visiting Chinese grandma (Wang) in the neighborhood on a walk on Monday. Andy hit off with her really well (me too). I got to know her quite a bit on our walks. She shakes hands with Andy at the end of walks. Andy even held out one hand for her and grabbed her cheek on Wednesday. Andy never does this to other strangers. I asked her to babysit on Wednesday night when I had to go teach at the library. Andy was naughty and cried his heart out that almost got Grandma Wang cry. So she played with Andy all night. He greeted me with a big grin when I came back. I was amazed that he didn't cry at all while playing with Grandma Wang; normally he cries non-stop with strangers when I'm out of sight.
Grandma Wang asked us over for some of her handmade noodle dinner on our afternoon walk yesterday. When we got there, she had put a bowl of freshly made noodle in front of me and told me to eat without worrying about kid today, and she fed Andy. Both Andy and I gobbled down a bowl of noodle. It was so good! Pictures.

Andy Showing Love

Andy is starting to show emotional maturity this week. Rebecca and Tristan came to visit on Tuesday. Rebecca helped me watching the kid while I got busy cooking up a storm for the youth shelter dinner. Rebecca told me that she pulled out a piece of veggie chip from the package and gave to Andy and later Andy took the pack himself and emptied out the chips on the floor! So I guess he understands the "Object Permanence" concept: he knows there are goodies in the bag even though not readily visible (picture). By the time I came over, Andy was sitting next to Tristan while Tristan getting changed. Then the amazing thing happened: Andy held out his half eaten chip and put it on Tristan's forehead. He repeated this gently several times. The intention to share was unmistakable. I was surprised that a baby is capable of such emotion at this age. See pictures.

Making Distance on the Floor

I was surprised to find Andy at the edge of the rug after a few minutes of self playing time (he was near the middle of rug at the start) on Wednesday (7/2). It looked like he had aimed for the new game of pulling the stroller brake. Did that mean he was crawling?! But I've never seen him crawl. A couple days later I had a conjecture of how he did it. He has been able to spin himself around 180 degree recently: he supports himself with two arms and turns by pivoting on his tummy. In the process of turning, he can pull himself forward a little. So he must have made a few turning maneuvers to make it to the stroller. I watched him doing such to move a couple feet on a later occasion. I learned babies have all sorts of ways of making movements before they crawl. Shelly told me her Sophie used to keep rolling herself to get to a destination.