Patrick is (almost) 9 months!

Our little guy is turning into a BIG and BUSY guy! At 9 months, Patrick is:

• Crawling and pulling up to stand, all the time. He's been crawling for a couple of months but now he is fast. 
• No teeth yet. Thank goodness for that because he is still nursing.
• Loves eating solids. Of course, he favors fruit, but he also likes crackers and cheerios and yogurt and oatmeal. I've been giving him pieces of cooked carrot and peas to pick up and eat, but he's not too keen on them. 
• Has started putting himself to sleep sometimes for naps. This is BIG because he usually wants to be cuddled and held to sleep, which leaves Graham unsupervised and usually in front of a movie. I hope this trend of self-soothing continues. His binkies are his lovies (Graham's lovie is his blanket) and they are what calm him down to sleep. 
• Speaking of sleep, at 9 months this child has still never slept through the night. So that is just wonderful. Sigh. I consider it a good night when he's up twice. He usually has a nice 6 hour stretch from about 8-2, and then wakes up again at 5. He doesn't nurse at the second wake-up. He usually gets to come to our bed at 5 a.m. because I'm too desperately tired to try to get him back to sleep in his own room; so that's probably why he wakes up- to get to go to mommy and daddy's room! But for now, I'm willing to put up with it. 
• Started babbling a few weeks ago- exactly when Graham did at 8.5 months. I love all the mamama's and bababa's!
• Has the bluest eyes I've ever seen, an increasing amount of fine, whispy blonde hair, and is truly one of the cutest babies I have ever seen; everyone who sees him at the grocery store ooh and aahs over him too.
• Is still nursing, though increasingly less. I know it's typical to nurse much less at this age, but I don't remember this with Graham. To be honest, Patrick has been much harder to nurse than Graham. He freaks out if there's no milk the first second he latches on; he guzzles the milk down as quickly as possible and then pushes me away; he kicks and smacks me the whole time; it's honestly not very relaxing, and never has been with him. It's funny, because he's naturally a cuddler, but he seems to want to nurse purely out of necessity, no cuddling involved. Little stinker. There are many times now where I'm counting the days to the goal of weaning him at 12 months. I know breast milk is best and it's free, so that's what's keeping me going, but as soon as he can have whole milk that'll be it.
• Not sure how much he weighs, but he has an appointment next week so we'll find out!
• Has been extremely healthy, thank You God. Hardly ever sick, never had an antibiotic.
• Is a tough little guy, with big brother rough housing with him all the time. I am grateful for their increased interaction- they make me smile! (until Patrick gets hurt...)

That's about it! Loving my baby so, so much. I'm sad to see him grow, but am also loving the age he's at. What a cutie!

P.S. I just went back and re-read what Graham was up to at 9 months and one thing I said was that Graham would never smile for strangers- Mr. Serious (he's still this way). Patrick is entirely the opposite! If someone, anyone, smiles and says hi to him, his face lights up with the biggest smile ever and sunbeams and confetti hearts radiate from his being. He's such a lover! Oh, these funny boys I have...