Dexter is 9 Months Old!

This ninth month just FLEW by, probably because Dexter kept us running the whole time. He's making a ton of progress.

• Teeth: SEVEN! Four on top and three on the bottom. We even got a good picture of all 7 of them this morning (see below).
  
• Hair: TONS! I was looking at one of his 6m photos, and I can't believe how bald he is there! He actually gets compliments on his hair all the time. It's still reddish blonde and has grown in quite evenly.
• Knees: A little red and sore from crawling ALL over the place. I've started putting neosporin on them at night, just to maximize the healing. (I'd get something to cover his knees, but Dexter Thunder Thighs doesn't fit into any baby legs or jeans. Besides, it's too hot for that stuff.
  
• Weight: SKINNY! Ok, maybe not skinny. But he's not the (relative) chunker we had at 5 and 6 months. He is moving so much more now, which leaves him with little time or interest in eating.
• Height: TALL! Shocker, I know. (We should get official stats from the pediatrician later this week.)
• Sleep: Much better in the last few days. We went through something of a sleep regression for 2-3 weeks there. It's tough to say how much was "normal" vs. how much was the ear infection (or teething pain or hunger or anything else).
• Food: Dexter is still pretty much loving baby food purees, but he eats more of them now, along with some food with actual texture. He also still loves his mesh food feeders, which are usually stuffed with frozen grapes (good for those sore gums and tasty too!). He is getting plenty of bites of table food, too, and even swallows some of them. He ALWAYS wants whatever you're eating, so it's best to make sure at least part of it is Dexter-safe.
  
• Verbal: Getting there. We get lots of "gah" and "bah" and "dah" sounds, along with humming "mmmmm" sounds and the general blowing of air through pursed lips. Given where we were a month ago, we are thrilled with this progress.
• Gross Motor: Again, progress. Dexter's balance gets a little bit better every day, and he can now walk across a room using only the wheeled desk chair for support. We anticipate a few bruises from this adventure and hypothesize that he will be walking by the time he hits 10 months. In the meantime, every surface over 4 feet off of the floor (and there are precious few of them) is cluttered with things that Dexter needs to stay away from. All of the cabinets and drawers have baby locks, the electrical outlets are covered (very frustrating for adults who actually need to use one occasionally), and we even had to take the knobs off of the stove this week. Oh well, maybe we can put them back on in 2-3 years.
  
• Fine Motor: Some progress here, too. I don't know how the true "pincer grasp" is defined, but Dexter is definitely not just making fists around his puffs anymore.
• Books: It's tough to call any of them true favorites at this point, but he does seem to enjoy "Water, Water Everywhere" - a bathtime book from Baby Einstein. We still read "Guess How Much I Love You" (if Mom does stories) or "Goodnight Moon" (if Dad does stories) every night. He has also really been loving the touch-and-feel books ("That's Not My Puppy" and "Millie Moo" are 2 faves) for the last couple of weeks and has a special fondness for the very fuzziest things to feel.
  
• New Tricks: As we've already chronicled here, Dexter loves to clap! He also loves to open and close the garage door and press just about any button he can find. He is also starting to get the hang of rolling a ball back and forth to Mom or Dad. (He's got the concept better than the execution, though, and often likes to just skip to the "YAY!" part of the transaction.) Unfortunately, biting seems to be on the list of new tricks, too. So far, he's only bitten his Mom, but we are working on "no" and hoping we don't get that call from daycare.
• Personality: HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY is the only way to describe it. In fact, if he is not smiling or laughing at or with you, you can be confident that he is tired or hungry or not feeling well. (That ear infection time was a real bummer.)
  

Dexter was briefly cooperative this morning so we could have an extra-special, extra-festive Independence Day photo shoot. (It took 76 shots to get these 4 good ones. Thank goodness for digital cameras.)