9 months old!

We took Michael to the baby clinic for his 9 month check-up today and here are his latest stats:

Age: 9 months and 3 days old
Weight: 10.27 kg (22.64 pounds)
Length: 74 cm
Head circumference: 45.6 cm
Number of teeth: 6
Food: 7 breastfeeds a day and two solid meals
Current temperament: Drifting off to sleep (hopefully!)
Current location: Upstairs in his cot

As you can see, he's doing very well and the doctor was pleased with him. It is always such a relief when no issues are raised by the doctor. I actually have a set of scales at home to monitor Michael's weight so that I don't get any nasty surprises when the nurse weighs him.

He's a happy little chap and has just started comically shaking his head. He doesn't know that it means 'no' because we don't shake our heads when we say no. He pumps his arms up and down furiously when he is excited and sticks his little lip out when he is upset. I'm having trouble resisting the power of that lip.

Last night when I was giving him a feed, he bit my nipple. In the past he has nipped but it has only been a little nip and he hasn't really done it since having teeth top and bottom. Last night he bit me and hung on. Ow!! I yelped and said 'no' very firmly. He looked up at me and his mouth started to turn downward at the corners and out came that little lip very slowly. Before I knew it, I was comforting him and my knackered nipple was forgotten. I've got to work on resisting this particular trick!

I'm sure that there was something else I was going to mention but for the life of me I can't remember what... oh yes!

I might have mentioned that Phil and I have been taking him out to one particular restaurant periodically. It is a good choice because there is a large non-smoking section and a lot of bustle. No-one minds if he is a little grumpy and there is a lot of people for him to gaze at. We sit him in one of the wooden highchairs and let him soak up the atmosphere. We went there last week. He hadn't been in the highchair two minutes when he clambered up onto all fours with his feet wedged against the back of the chair. He leaned forwards onto the tray and climbed out of the chair onto the table where he proceeded to crawl off!!! Phil and I sat there stunned. Naturally, he wanted to do this again and again and again so one of us had to hold him whilst the other ate. We'll need to pick a restaurant with highchairs that have a harness in future or ditch eating out altogether. It was very funny and we were very impressed. He really is a serious escape artist!