Happy Birthday, Gage! (9 months)

Okay, so I'm a little late on this post...8 days late to be exact. So sorry, but life goes on. Gage turned 9 months old on September 3rd. He and Savannah both had appointments with Dr. B. Savannah just got her flu shot. Gage had 2 shots...round 1 of his flu vaccination and Hep B. Savannah went first and cried the most she's ever cried from a shot, therefore, Gage was crying before it was even his turn. Perhaps doubling up on appointments is not the best idea.

Gage is definitely a sympathy crier. All in all, he's a very happy baby, and Savannah can really get him tickled. But if Savannah cries (heck, even if she's just laughing loudly), Gage gets upset and starts crying. He loves to clap. He's learning some sign language...he now knows "more" and I think "milk", but he's also learning to wave bye-bye which tends to look a lot like "milk" since his wave is backwards as if to say "bye-bye" to himself.

Stephen is tickling Savannah here as Gage is happily swinging:


Savannah is pretending to eat...Gage found it hysterical:

Well...this video will have to come later...I'm having technical issues.

He's not crawling or pulling up or cruising or even attempting to take steps when we hold his hands while he stands. He sits and tries to get himself into a crawling position by rocking forward and putting weight on his hands, but he can't quite get his feet out from under him and behind him. He will scoot on his butt though. When it comes to pulling up, he'll reach up and pull on the furniture, but he's still not able to get his feet under him and use those leg muscles to get to a standing position. "They" say that the second child reaches certain milestones before the first one did as a desire to "keep up" with the older sibling. I think in our case, Gage has no motivation to be mobile since Savannah stays right with him and brings him anything he could ever need, want or desire. I wouldn't move either if someone was always there to bring my water, the phone, the remote, my laptop and entertain me.


"Lady, can't you see it's football season? Now, get outta here with that camera."


Gage is also still trying to master his pincer grasp. He mostly grabs food with his whole hand and puts his whole fist to his mouth...food deeply hidden in his grasp so it never quite makes it into his mouth. So really the only food he can feed himself is cookies that are large enough to stick out of his fist. He also likes to gum pizza crust. Can anyone tell me what ever happened to zwieback toast??? I always gave it to Savannah, but I have been to 3 Publix, 1 Kroger, 2 Targets and Walmart, and I cannot find it anywhere. Argh! Which reminds me, Gage has no teeth. Not surprising though since Savannah didn't get teeth until after her first birthday. He is starting to eat table food...sort of. He did eat a sweet potato tonight that was an actual sweet potato from a restaurant and not pureed.

So for his 9 month stats:
Weight: 18 lbs, 9 oz. (25th percentile)
Height: 27 1/4 inches (25th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47 cm (95th percentile) - According to Dr. B, all the Barnetts (including me) have big heads...thanks, Dr. B!
Adorableness: tied for #1 in this family