Jesse Bear at 9 months of life

AH. It's a great day. It started by getting to sleep in until 8:00 this morning. Jesse and I babysat the kids I used to nanny for yesterday, and we had a very busy day. He doesn't sleep very well outside of his crib, and wouldn't take his afternoon nap, so he lost that extra hour of sleep he usually gets. We met up with a friend, earlier this week, at a little coffee/kid play place, and I was amazed at what her little 10 month old cutie could sleep through. He was asleep in his car seat when we arrived, and he slept through her picking him up and moving him into a stroller, through the bright sunlight, into the shop, through ordering coffees, and then he slept while Jesse squealed and babbled very loudly right beside him. Amazing. I can't even open the door to Jesse's room silently without him stirring.

Since the time change, Jesse's sleep schedule has switched to one I favour much more. He does 7pm to 7am with a 15 minute feed around 4 am. I like him going to bed at 7, as opposed to his former 6:00 hour, because things don't feel as rushed in the evening. When Dave gets home, it used to be like... get everyone fed, and the boy washed up and into Jams and in bed in an hour... and I much prefer having a more relaxed time getting that done. It's nice for all of us to be able to have a bit of evening play time, or go for a walk together, too. When I go back to work in the fall, I'll really probably savour those few hours together. Also, Jesse's afternoon nap has also moved until much later in the day, allowing us to get out after lunch for a few hours. I like being home anyways, for 3 or so, to get supper on the go, and get some down time while the boy naps before Daver gets home.

So, this is Jesse at 9 months old now, and I feel like he has picked up and mastered so much new stuff this week. Here are a few highlights:

-Jesse is now putting things BACK into the box once in a while
-He hands people toys or food. Half the time when you reach out to take it, he pulls it back to eat or play with it, but the other half of the time, he actually shares.
-He has a really eczema ridden finger that he chews on all the time, so we try and keep it covered during the day with a bandaid. He has mastered taking the bandaid off. I think he likes the challenge, and I'm tempted to bandaid them ALL up one of these days, and see how long he'd work away at undoing them.
-He reaches both of his arms up when he wants out of his swing, high chair, or car seat.
-He gives me kisses if I ask for them. They are a little scary these days. He grabs the sides of my face and sometimes chomps a bit during the kiss.
- He VOLUNTARILY is going from sitting onto his stomach without flipping out. And while his legs have grasped the concept of crawling, his arms haven't yet. So, he's moving around quite a bit on the floor by sliding on his stomach and doing some pivoting.
-If he is on his back and you ask him to roll onto his stomach, he will.
-If you say "buckeroo," he will throw himself backwards... a little scary, indeed.
- He cries when I leave the room
-He gets the idea of playing catch with Cooper, and throws the ball for him.
-He likes to swat at Coopers face, and put his hands in Coopers mouth. This gets Cooper all riled up, and playful, and when he barks in Jesse's face, Jesse cracks up laughing.
-He knows when it's nap time, and cries when we walk down the hall and into his room, then throws a MAJOR 5 minute tantrum everytime I put him in his crib for a nap. I like when Dave is home and does this, so I don't ALWAYS feel like the meanie.
-He sways forward and back in his swing if it's not swinging to get it moving. And thinks it's hilarious for some reason.
-He pulls himself into a stand up position when he is sitting on my lap using my shoulders, then tries to climb up my body and over my shoulder. He does this on the armrests of the couch too.
-He does NOT sit still unless he has some little gadget to try and figure out.
-His mouth never stops moving
-He is VERY cute.

Well, it's Friday, and I need to get some laundry done before work tonight, and the house tidied up a bit. Dave has a group of guys over, quite often, on Friday nights, and they usually end up cleaning the messy kitchen and doing dishes. Which is nice, but I think I'll try and be on top of it this week. Happy Weekend! Thanks for reading. I'm off.