Rumor has it

Rumor has it that Benjamin took two unassisted steps on Saturday! He was playing with his babysitters/friends next door and suddenly decided to walk from one to the other, first holding fingers, then on his own for two steps. His parents, however, have been unable to inspire him to do it again -- he just wants to crawl for us.

-maman

stand and deliver

Benjamin isn't standing up on his own, but he sure can pull up on anything, and fast.

To the left is a shot of him playing peek-a-boo with his mother.

And below is a shot of him looking caught in the act.

(That's the liquor cabinet, and yes, it has a childproof safety lock.)

- papa

Bubble Baby

Benjamin had his second swim "lesson" on Saturday. We are part of a class called "Bubble Babies" that meets for half an hour once a week at an indoor pool.

His first class was a great success even though I hadn't found swimming diapers for him and his Pampers diaper was trying to soak up the pool as he paddled along. He laughed and smiled a lot and kicked a good bit. Another baby cried practically the whole time and Benjamin seemed mystified by what was causing this other little boy to be so unhappy when the water was so much fun. Benben didn't cry when I dunked him under water, which was great because at his age he has lost his reflex to hold his breath when under water and so I have to blow in his face before dunking him. He did look a little shocked though...

Today was an OK swim, but I think the teething is getting him down and he didn't kick too much. He was also very distracted by his fellow bubble babies and the lifeguards on the tall chair beside the pool. He did, however, get dunked twice without freaking out and even put his own face in the water to catch a pretty pink ring that he then happily chewed on for a bit.

-maman

Sharing

On Friday Benjamin shared for the first time. Although he is teething (big front tooth coming in) and his frozen bagel was helping him forget about his sore gums, he reached out and offered us bites of his soggy treat. Yum!

-maman

buh

It seems like Benjamin has been saying "mama" forever. He'll occasionally manage "papa" — but mostly he just practices his 'P' sound when he sees me. At least I know he's trying, and he has the right word in mind. Dadadadada is just babble. It's not what I'm called. But it is the second-most common babble from him (second to mamamamama) so you can see how these words came to represent primary and secondary parent.

But recently, his mother has noticed a new baby word: he says "buh" when he sees Bones. I saw and heard him doing it today, looking at the cat and saying "buh." Pretty cool.

- papa

Benjamin's stats at 9 months

Benjamin had his nine-month doctor's appointment today. It was less traumatic than the last two, though he did get upset when he saw the needle coming toward his fat little thigh. I was rather proud of how he acted while the nurse was drawing blood from his finger: she held his hand tightly and his papa held him tightly, but Benjamin seemed mostly fascinated by his blood as it streamed into the tiny tube the nurse held against his finger.

At nine months Benjamin is 29.5 inches long (still 90th percentile), he weighs 19 lbs and 11 oz (50th percentile), and he has a head circumference of 18 inches (50th percentile).

When the doctor saw him twisting and struggling when put on his back, he predicted that Benjamin would walk before his first birthday. He claims that this sort of struggle -- it has become incrediblly difficult to keep Benjamin on his back to change his diaper -- usually doesn't happen until a baby is about 12 months old.

he's up!

Yesterday, Benjamin turned 9 months old.

Last night, in his bath — which is now in an inflatable duck-shaped tub within the grownup bathtub — he reached up and grabbed my shirt collar and pulled to standing. I called his mother in to see. She said the full bath probably made it a lot easier. True.

Then later last night, after he was in bed, when Nathalie went in to check on him in his crib, he grabbed her shirt collar and pulled to standing.

But could he do it when he had no parental clothing to grab onto?

This morning, during what was supposed to be his nap:

- papa

3rd sign

Poor Benjamin. Yesterday he started doing his 3rd ASL sign: "eat" ... and we thought he was trying to blow us kisses. Thank goodness Nathalie figured out today what he was really saying!

- papa

he's mobile!

No, this is not an April Fool's joke. He's mobile. Does that mean he's finally crawling? Well, yes and no. Benjamin has an eclectic locomotive style: scoot, belly-crawl, roll, hands-and-knees ... whatever it takes. None of this is new, but for the first time today, he really started to explore past his immediate location ...

Crawling or not, he's suddenly quite mobile. Good things the outlets are all baby-proofed, as are the main cabinets, but we'd better do a new sweep before he starts showing us where we've been negligent. April will look very different from March.

- papa

PS Tonight I installed a safety lock on the cabinet he's trying to open in the last photo.

PPS I should mention that he started out in the middle of that blue foam rubber play mat in the background but that I didn't start taking photos of his progress until he'd reached the corner of the couch.

bencat, take 4

You can see the 3 previous "bencat" stages here.

It's been 11 months since that first image. Now Benjamin and Bones are learning to be around each other pretty casually: