He is right there with everyone making sure he is heard. He is not a quiet child and has many funny sounds. Everyone's favorite is a "clearing your throat" kind of sound. Some people think he is choking until he keeps going and they realize he is doing it for fun. My neighbors get a kick out of it every time they hear him going.
What I am grateful for is that his loudness is not a bad one. He is a very happy baby and is real easy going. He cries very little. In fact several friends have commented "that is the first time I have ever heard him cry". He does have his whiny moments. Most of those are due to the fact that he wants to do things that he can't yet such as move around faster.
He is very flexible and easy going about his routine. This is both bad and good. It has made planning very difficult because I am never sure when he is going to wake up and when or how long his naps will be. The combination of irregular schedules, preschool hours, and Braden refusing to go to the gym daycare has made getting to the gym rather difficult. The good of it is he doesn't have to nap at a certain time or risk loosing a monster. He can go several hours between naps and still be a happy kid. For example on Sunday he only took one nap and was still as cute as ever. This makes it easier to run multiple errands in one day.
He is 9.5 months and on the move. I don't know if he will crawl because we have hardwood floors which makes the army crawl a piece of cake. He can go from his tummy to sitting easily. We have had to move items up higher and make sure doors are shut. He has already mastered mess making 101. I forgot how animal like babies on the move can be. I am constantly reminding the kids to keep their shoes out of Tanner's area because he will chew on them. Many times throughout the day I hear myself say "Tanner stop eating the rug." "Don't eat your brother's paper airplane." He also likes to follow me around the house like a little puppy. Too bad I can't let him clean the floor like a puppy. This is a list of things already fished from his mouth since he became mobile: lawn plug from when the grass was aerated, wood chips from the flower beds (he loves these), large dust bunny, bedding from Sniffle's cage, peanut, raisin, tape and paper.
He has 6 teeth and bites everything including my arm. I meant to write down when his teeth came in but I forgot. I think the bottom 2 were around 6 months and the top four around 7 or 8. Unlike Braden, Tanner likes baby food and prefers it over a bottle during the day. He is a terrible snacker and will sometimes drink only a couple of ounces of his bottle then play. 30 minutes later he will eat another couple of ounces. He likes to eat when everyone else is eating (doesn't want to be left out). He is also easily distracted while eating which fuels the snacking cycle.
He is not a cuddler. He doesn't really enjoy being rocked to sleep. In fact there was a couple of months that if you tried he would scream. Then when you would lay him in bed he would calm down and go sleep. He still likes to be laid straight into bed and he will go right to sleep. He has a favorite blanket that he sleeps with every night and each nap. When you lay him down on it, he immediately grabs the blanket and brings it to his face.
Despite being a non-cuddler, he used to give the best kisses. This was around 6 months. Some of those kisses were close to crossing the line to making out. I would have slobber all over my face when he finished so he would have been counted as a bad kisser. But it always made me laugh.
Playing/eating his first sword.
Learning to feed himself. For some reason he always gets it flipped and he chews the bottom. He has improved but when he gets distracted and stops eating the bottle always flips. Then he shakes it soaking his clothes.
First time in a swimming pool. This was the beginning of April.
Of course he found a rubber ducky to eat.
Playing the Indian drum on our visit to the Gale History Museum.
He loves his bath time. He likes to drink the water. He doesn't mind laying on his belly in the tub.
He loved his feet. This was in April but he has since grown out of the feet loving stage. He used to lick his toes and always grabbed his feet when he was on his back.
Wandering the room at Macy's birthday party.
Making a mess. He found the letters on a shelf and pulled them all out.
He is so smart. He can read (pretend to anyways). I tried to snap the picture when he had the book open. It really looked like he was reading. He even had it right side up. It looked so funny.
Made his way to the back door. I think he was wondering when her could go outside and play like the big kids.
