How old are you?

We had Drew's 9 month appointment today (yes, he's 10 months on Friday). We are constantly getting asked by people we see if Drew is 1.5 or 2 and we sadly have to say that he's only 9 months old. Today the doctor confirmed that he is the size of a 15 month old. He remains very tall for his age which causes him to weigh a lot even though he's a fairly skinny little guy. He was 31 inches and about 24 pounds.

He is still very healthy and developmentally on track although slightly advanced physically. The problem remains with his tear duct still being blocked. We now have the name of a specialist that I'll be calling later this afternoon. When he turns one we can go in and have the duct probed to hopefully keep it open. Our doctor said that 90% of kids born with this problem outgrow it by one but she thinks Drew is going to be in the minority 10% that has to have it surgically fixed or he'll just have to live with a gross eye the rest of his life. She said it's a simple procedure and virtually pain free. They put him out though which is the scary part for me. The doctor also informed us that Drew should be able to understand us enough that we need to start having consistent discipline with him. She said if we don't start now we're asking for trouble later...especially since he's so mobile and active.

The bad news from today is that the poor kid has another ear infection. We feel so bad for him because he's been sick since October 20. We've been to that doctor's office so many times and tried so many different things to help get him better and it's just one thing after another. She's hoping that this new strong medicine will lick the problems. We'll see!!!!

Lately Drew has learned to wave and say bye-bye, blow kisses, and mimic lots of sounds and actions we do. He also gives me things he has if I ask for them which is nice. Now I no longer have to fight with him to get things away from him. He really is freakishly strong for a baby. He has learned a couple other things that are making my life easier. When I tell him it's time to eat and to go to his chair he'll walk over to his highchair and wait to get put in. Also, if I get out his changing pad in the living room and a diaper he'll come over so he can have his pants changed. It's nice to not have to chase him around the downstairs.

Drew also likes to be helpful and help himself to his bottles. One night last week I made Drew his bedtime bottle while Mitch got him into his pjs. I came into the dining room and sat the bottle on the table so Drew wouldn't see it. When this kid sees food he WANTS food. Mitch got him dressed and let him up to walk around for a minute. Five seconds later he was sitting on the floor by the table drinking his bottle. He apparently saw it and went and grabbed it off the table deciding there was no reason he should have to wait for anyone to give it to him when he could just help himself. Then a couple days later it was getting time for his afternoon snack bottle. I sat an empty bottle on the stove ready for Mitch to make when he finished up what he was doing. I was working on doing dishes and Drew was coming and going in the kitchen but was getting fussy because he must have been hungry. All of a sudden he was standing at the stove trying to reach up and get the bottle. He couldn't reach it but he could reach the handle on the oven so he was hanging off the handle trying to use his feet to climb up the stove. It was a crazy sight to watch and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. He's such a funny little guy.