The Nine Month Old

Langston turned 9 months old a few days ago. He visited the doctor for his check up... 20 lbs, 9 oz. He is 50th percentile for height and weight. So if you want to see a average sized 9 month old, I can hook you up. He got is first tooth in just in time for the doctor to see... yeah! It's the bottom left front. He has been a little unhappy the last couple days and we suspect it was the tooth coming in. We have been keeping him on Tylenol to help with the pain. He also got a flu shot, but didn't shed a single tear. The nurse said the flu shot is a very small needle so that was good. All in all, a healthy baby boy.

Kahlil has really been testing the limits lately. I don't know if it's because Langston is touching his stuff or it's just a 3 1/2 year old thing... but there are lots of demands and stating who is the boss and who is the biggest/strongest/fastest. I don't mind getting updates on who is the fastest, but could do with out the "I want that NOW!" Luckily for him, he gets back on my good side every night by telling me he loves me "To the moon and back, to the sun and back, and to the earth and back". That's a lot of love.

Frog Pajamas

The other evening Kahlil was pretty upset that he and Langston didn't have matching pajamas. I bought them a couple matching sets of pjs, but they were all dirty. I was surprised by Kahlil being sad so when I saw a couple pairs of frog pjs in the right sizes, I had to get them. Kahlil and Langston both seem pretty happy about the new sleepwear.

Langston has started to wave. It's very cute.

Kahlil and Jay went sledding today. They had a great time. Apparently a teenager at the slope said Kahlil on his little blue disk was the cutest thing she has ever seen.

Doors... The Best Toy Ever

Make sure you have the volume on when you watch this video.

Langston Update

Just want to give a quick update as to what Langston is doing these days. At this age everything changes so fast the info is almost old before I get it typed.


Moving:
He is crawling like a crazy boy. He was just getting his belly off the ground the week before Christmas so he's been doing the real thing for nearly a month now. He is getting fast... and has found that he has a high gear when he decides he really want to get somewhere.

He is also VERY good at pulling himself up on objects. He was doing this when he was still in the tummy scoot phase, but now he can pull up on less stable objects and is starting to cruise and let go a little. I think he will be starting to walk but the time he is ten months. When he goes in a room he likes to make the rounds of opening all the doors and drawers he has access too. And, of course, an open dishwasher is like a magnet. He also likes to dance. He will crawl to me, and use my hands to stand. Then if there is music playing or somebody else dancing, he will dance too. It is very cute.

Swimming:
He LOVES water. I thought Kahlil was a water baby, but his fondness of water was nothing compared to Langston's. Langston will crawl from other rooms if he hears the sink running. He squirms and squeals when you walk by the bathtub. And he is a superstar in his swim class. You might want to book flights for the 2028 Summer Olympics as Langston should be a swim star.


Eating:
He finally decided it was a good eat solid foods... and he wants to try EVERYTHING. It's now fun, and a little messy, to feed him. And he is a pro with the sippy cup already.


Favorite People:
Langston LOVES Kahlil; loves to watch him play, wants to touch him, laughs at him. It is very sweet. And Kahlil is only luke warm on Langston. I had no idea how much power a big brother/sister has over their sibling. I'm number two on the list... of course I come with the breastaurant. Jay is number three but Langston really likes him. There have been a couple times when he pushes out of my arms and reached for Dad. He also really likes Bubba... and, amazingly, Bubba seems to like him. To this day, Bubba will have nothing to do with Kahlil. Even as Kahlil got older and started to make an effort by tiptoeing and being quiet. As soon as Kahlil comes in the room, Bubba is gone. But Langston is a different matter all together. When ever Kahlil is out of the picture (out of the house or in bed) Bubba will come out for pets. He lets Langston crawl right up to him and pound on his side. Jay and I are both baffled by this show of preference by Bubba. We are wondering if thee is something inherently good about Langston and bad about Kahlil that only feline sensitivities can discern.

Favorite Things:
As you can imagine, a busy boy like Langston likes to crawl a lot. He is done with being in bouncy chairs or swings. He is on the go. He likes to play at the train table - he stands at the edge and bangs the wooden tracks on the table. When he is getting tired he likes to go in the carrier where he usually falls asleep in a few minutes. He doesn't really care for the car. He loves his fuzzy blanket - I bought him three of the exact same green lion blanket so he can have one at home, Melissa's and Soft Star. As soon as you hand it to him, he burrows his face in it.

Sleeping:
It is pretty easy to get Langston to sleep, but he doesn't stay that way for long. He is usually awake every 2 hours or so. On a good night I get blocks of three hours between wakings... on bad nights it's only 30 to 90 minutes. If he just eats and goes back to sleep I'm happy, but some nights he is very unhappy and fusses. I have to think he is having some gas bubbles or teething pain going on those nights. Of course it is easy to be understanding about this during the day, but at 4 am after only two 90 minute blocks of sleep it's a little hard to think clearly. I keep telling myself that he will out grow this in the next year or so.

General Health:
No teeth yet. I'm sure he's over the 20 pound mark, we'll know for sure at his nine month check up later this month. He caught a cold a couple days ago, but other than that he is a health, happy little dude!

Christmas Recap

Thought I would summarize our Happy Holiday Season.

We stayed in Corvallis, which was nice. Traveling with the kids over the holidays is not something I was excited about. Aunt Pete and Uncle Lloyd decided to head our way and spend Christmas with us. They arrived with Frank the Cat and Blue the Fish on December 23. Luckily they drove as the roads were pretty clear, but PDX was a mess.

For Christmas Eve we did lots of grocery shopping for the dinner we had planned for the next day. Christmas Eve we had a simple dinner here... just the six of us. We had a good lasagna dinner and then we opened presents. Kahlil thought it was GREAT! He helped hand out the gifts and was pretty excited about opening his gifts. It was the first year that he really got the whole present thing. Langston on the other hand was not very impressed with the event. Some of the favorite gifts this year... Kahlil's superhero outfit from K&P, and along with that is The Incredibles move from AP&L, Langston's ball launcher from UR&AB (hit with both boys), the farting dog book from Grandpa Richard and Grandma Marcia, the flashing towels from Grandma Ettie and Papa, the named stools from the Rio Rancho Fribergs have been great, and Santa did good with the new workbench and tools.

Christmas day was spent cooking. Pete and Lloyd are masters at putting on a large dinner and it was great to watch them in action. I mostly tried to help and stay out of their way. We had prime rib, twice baked potatoes, creamed spinach, fresh baked rolls, and more I'm not remembering now. The Weisel and Watts families came over for dinner. It was great to hang out, eat some good food, and spend a little time together.

The next day Aunt Pete and Lloyd headed home. It was a quick trip for them, but I'm really glad they came.

December 26th is Boxing Day and the Watts had us over for a fantastic dinner of traditional English foods. Luckily much of the food was not cooked in a traditional way :-) It was really yummy and I ate more than I should have.

For New Years we had Jen and Ryan, Morgan's friends who are getting their masters as OSU, over to watch the Beaver Bowl game. It was a very low scoring game, 0-3, but the Beavers won so that was good. That evening was just our family. Kids in bed at the regular time. At the stoke of New Years, I was playing my new computer card game and Jay was playing is PS2 game. We took a break and wished each other a Happy New Year.

Zerberts and Superpowers

A couple weeks ago Langston learned how to make the zerbert noise. Some days he will spend LOTS of time doing it... we just have to laugh. In this video, the loud noise off screen is coming from Kahlil.

For Christmas, Kahlil got a super-hero outfit from Kris and Paul. The results are below (unfortunately I don't know how to turn the video so you'll have to turn your head). By the way, we think 'super powers under my risk' is about his super hero wrist bands.