Monthly Milestones... 8-9 Months

We have a crawler! I said in my last monthly milestones post that Teddy was almost there, and a couple of weeks after posting that he figured out how to cross the rug to reach his favourite toy and since then there has been no stopping him! It has been so amazing to watch, as you can see him working out in his head where he wants to go and the determination he uses to get there. He does sometimes still alternate the crawl with the bum shuffle, and prefers carpets to wooden floors but I suspect that we will be needing that stair-gate very soon! After the first time Teddy crawled he didn't do it again for 24 hours, and I think he hadn't realised that he had cracked it, but now as soon as we put him on the floor he is on the move. Pablo is less enthused about this than the rest of us :-)

Crawling hasn't been the only major milestone this month, we also took Teddy on his first holiday! I will write a detailed post about both the destination (Tallinn) and tips on travelling with a 9 month old very soon but the short story is that he was a little star and we found the whole trip to be much less stressful than anticipated. I would definitely recommend a city break with a baby around this age; Teddy seemed fascinated by the new surroundings and was more than happy to be pushed around in the buggy we borrowed. It also turns out that menus are his new favourite thing! He was happiest with one of those in his hand (and not one of the carefully selected toys I had packed) whilst Chris and I had a beer. You can't argue with that! It was lovely having time together as a family, we didn't cram too much in so had plenty of time to chill out just the three of us. I just wish we could have had a bit longer!

Over the last month Teddy's sleeping pattern hasn't changed much but one new development is that he now sleeps on his tummy rather than his back, sometimes with his bottom in the air as demonstrated beautifully below! When he first did this I would turn him back over but having consulted fellow mums I learnt that it is a safe way for babies to sleep once they are strong enough to turn themselves over, so I leave him be. Unless of course he decides to fall asleep sitting up which he has now done twice. How this is even possible I don't know, the boy has some serious sleeping skills.  

Food wise, Teddy continues to eat most of what he is given. Given being the operative word however - he has decided that feeding himself is too much hassle so now tends to drop whatever I hand to him on the floor and opens his mouth expecting me to do it for him. Of course this never seems to apply when he is given a baby biscuit, the little monkey. It is a good job we didn't go for solely baby led weaning as it would be a nightmare right about now! I am not worrying about it yet as I am hoping it is just a phase, and I am sure that if he gets hungry enough he will miraculously start to feed himself finger food again.  On holiday we discovered that he LOVES spaghetti carbonara and pizza (I gave him a tiny bit of mine) so he clearly takes after his mum when it comes to a weakness for Italian food.  I suspect that he has put on a fair few pounds recently! 

I think that is all for now, quite a month it has been for the little man! I will leave you with a few more pictures from the last few weeks and will see you in a months time!