
Marshall turned nine months old on April 29th. I was a little behind in taking his traditional pictures, but we did make it for his nine month check-up on time. Little man is border-line UNDER WEIGHT!!! Paul was thinking of demanding a paternity test upon hearing that news! He weighs 19.5lbs and is 29.5 inches long - 25th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. They told us to start bulking up his meals, no more empty calories like crackers, unless we put humus or cream cheese on them. The pedi also told us to start sprinkling Parmesan cheese on his veggies for extra calories. As Paul and I are starting South Beach to lose weight, we're having to help Little M. eat as many calories as possible... what strange timing! Luckily Marshall is loving all the hummus, cheese, avocados and other protein and calorie-rich goodies that we're putting in front of him, so I think he'll be bulked-up for his next check-up. Paul remembers his diet while training for two-a-days in high school, so maybe we'll start recreating that for Marshall.
As for his motor skills, Marshall seems to be right on track. He just started waving "hi" and "bye" and we think he's even trying to say, "hi". He's still crawling like an inch worm, but can get from our fireplace to the bookshelf in the kitchen in no-time flat (he loves pulling all my cookbooks to the floor - we're trying to teach him proper respect for books, but he's just not getting it!) He can crawl properly, but only does it when he's crawling towards something he's going to pull himself up on. Marshall still loves to walk holding our fingers, and it looks like it will be that way for a while. He's getting a lot better at feeding himself and has gotten the hang of his sippy cup. Although he's waking up twice a night to eat (we've had two consecutive nights of single feedings, but I am not about to jinx myself and say he's dropped a night feeding) he is always in the best mood when he wakes up. He absolutely adores Molly and loves watching her go about her business, whether she's playing, eating, drawing or watching TV, he just can't get enough of her. Peek a Boo is his absolute favorite game and he thinks it's especially funny when Molly dives in the pool and then pops up out of the water, that cracks him up every time! Lately he's started covering his face and waiting for us to say "Where's Marshall!?!?" Several times I've caught him with a blanket or stuffed animal over his eyes just waiting patiently for someone to notice... he lets out the biggest squeal when we play along. We're finally getting two top teeth and it looks like he's going to have the same spacing issue as his sister.
I also have to mention that Marshall is a total mama's-boy and I LOVE it. Molly is, and always has been, all about her daddy. This morning Paul tried to give Marshall a hug good-bye and as soon as he took him from me, Marshall leaned back towards me with his hands out. I took him from Paul and said, "HA! This one is MINE!" at which point Molly jumped into Paul's arms and said, "This one is YOURS, Daddy!"

What up, Dawg?



Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Right after the above 'pirate' picture was taken, Marshall did a header off of the chair and made a break for it...

Gotta go, Mom - Quin, OUT!
