Sleeping: Arlo continues to sleep very well through the night, going to sleep around 8 or 9pm and waking up for the day somewhere around 6 or 7am. During our recent trip to the OBX, he didn't sleep as well as he does at home and we all found ourselves up a little earlier than we wanted to be, but as soon as we returned home he went right back to his usual routine. As far as naps go, in recent weeks, I feel like our nap "schedule" has relaxed a bit. He typically takes two naps per day, one mid-morning, around 9 or 10am and one early afternoon, around 1pm or so. Sometimes he will sneak in a short nap late afternoon but it usually depends on how long his naps were earlier in the day. Naps typically last for 1-2 hours. Overall, naps and nighttime is going really well and I am thankful that he is a good sleeper. We still use the ergo carrier to get him to sleep occasionally, but now he often falls asleep in our arms after eating and the ergo isn't even necessary.
Eating: Up through our beach trip last week, Arlo was still kind of hit or miss with whether or not he would really want to eat his solid (pureed) meals. However, my friend Melissa (Tommy's mama) visited us during our trip, and I noticed baby T loved to eat his veggies mixed with oatmeal or rice cereal. I hadn't tried that with Arlo yet, and when I did it was like I had opened up a whole new world to him. I don't know if it mellowed out the taste of the fruits and veggies, or if he likes the thicker texture, but now he will take two meals a day, often finishing the entire bowl. He is pretty happy to eat anything, and even had a meal of peas, lentils, spinach, and brown rice recently, and loved every bite! His favorites are still banana and sweet potato. He is getting better with his sippy cup and will drink a bit of water with every meal, but I still need to hold it up for him to drink. He likes to hold the cup (and bang it on his tray!) but doesn't yet understand that the cup needs to be tilted up so the water will flow to the mouthpiece.
When we go out to restaurants we give Arlo teething biscuits to munch on while we eat our meals, and he loves them. I found these Plum organic biscuits at Target and feel good about the natural ingredients. The baby cereal we are using is Happy Bellies in oatmeal and rice. I am making all of his fruit and veggie blends at home using the vitamix or baby bullet (depending on the batch size) but when we were at the beach I found those organic baby food pouches to be awesome. I won't make a habit of using them all the time, but for traveling or eating out they can't be beat for convenience.
Weight and Length: We will have his official stats at the end of the month when he goes for his nine month pediatrician visit, but I can tell you he has had a recent growth spurt in the length department and both Erik and I have commented in the past few days on how big he is starting to look. He is still a trim little guy though, with long skinny legs and a tiny little waist. I would estimate that he probably weighs between 17 and 18 lbs.
Wearing: Adiós size 6 month clothes, this kid is fitting comfortably into both 9 month and 12 month onesies, pants, and rompers. We are still full time cloth diapering and loving it. We use a very occasional disposable, however we are still working on the bulk pack of diapers I purchased back at the beginning of April, five months ago. What is more surprising I suppose is that he still fits into the same size diaper he did back then! They were rather large on him when we bought them though, and fit pretty snugly now. I will probably always keep around a few disposables for long car trips or in case we have a babysitter who is uncomfortable using cloth.
Likes and dislikes:
likes: still loving his doorway jumper, the ergo carrier, his new activity block I scored on craigslist last weekend, playing with Lucy (probably his favorite thing these days - he crawls up to her and steals her toys and she just lets him. best. dog. ever.), other babies, baths, mirrors, and Memere Jill discovered last week that if you blow on his ticklish little feet it makes him laugh so hard!
dislikes: loud noises (but getting a lot better!) and teething (who doesn't?!) That's all I got. He's a pretty happy kid these days.
New milestones and developments: Here is where it get's exciting! Arlo started crawling, well creeping really, since he is not up on all fours, around the second week in August. He very quickly increased his new skill and now moves through the house at an impressive speed. He can sit up for long periods but hasn't yet pushed himself into a sitting position. He isn't technically pulling up to a stand but will crawl up to us when we are sitting on the floor and climb all over our legs. In the bathtub he now sits for his entire bath (he has been doing this for a while actually, I forgot to mention it last month) but will now grab onto the front of the tub and try and pull himself up on it. His hands are always wet and slippery though so he isn't able to get very far. We recently lowered his crib mattress in anticipation of him starting to pull himself up soon.
We had a few weeks off from teething but now he is at it again. Tooth #7 popped through in the past few days and #8 will make it's appearance any day now. When it does, he will have four on the top and four on the bottom.
One thing is for sure, there is no slowing this kid down! He is curious, energetic, and loves to explore new things. Arlo sure knows how to keep us on our toes. Now, if there were only a way to bottle some of that baby energy so we could have some ourselves...
