Kibbles and bits

I keep forgetting to update Nolan's stats! He had his 9 month check-up 2 weeks ago. He's doing great. He weighs 20 lbs, 5oz. - 50th percentile (no wonder my arms hurt when I hold him too long!), is 28 1/2 inches long (55th percentile), and has a head circumference of 18 inches (70th percentile). He's a growing boy! Hopefully we won't have to take him back to the dr. before his 1 year appointment in March.

Nolan has really developed a lot of new skills over the last week. He loves to “dance”, and by dancing I mean shaking his head back and forth when he hears music. He also figured out how to pull himself up on his feet in to a sort of bent over standing pose, and how to crawl up the 2 stairs that separate our basement from the landing. He is definitely what we call a mover! The other night Adam was holding him in a standing position. Nolan decided to take it upon himself to take a few steps. You know what that means – we don’t have a lot of time left before he’s walking! A new game he likes to play is to push his smaller toys under the couch, and then lay down on his belly and try to find them. He likes to play catch. He likes to copy different noises we make, too. I’m developing a little bit of a cough, and whenever I cough he feels the need to cough as well. He enjoys spending time in the kitchen with us, just crawling around and trying to open the cupboards. He really likes the pots and pans! We’ve moved some of his bigger toys downstairs. So far he likes to rotate between them. At this point whatever keeps him occupied, I guess!

Adam and I had a fun time on New Year’s, celebrating with our friends at Justin and Lori’s house. We were planning to stay overnight, but Nolan had other plans for us. He woke up a few times because he heard the other kids playing – and we think he was jealous that he couldn’t play with them! He woke up around 12:45 and wouldn’t go back to sleep, so we packed up all the stuff we brought over and drove home. On Friday I stayed home with Nolan so I could start to take down all the Christmas decorations, and Adam went out to lunch with some friends and ran errands. On Saturday we celebrated Christmas at Adam’s grandma’s house in Buffalo Lake. Nolan not only ate all the food I brought for him to eat, but he also enjoyed quite a few mashed potatoes and Sweedish meatballs! We’re starting to transition him to regular food. The only downside of it is that he doesn’t like to touch stuff that’s mushy. For example, he won’t eat soft, cut up peaches and pears, but he will eat cut up apples and pears that are hard. So weird. He’s also tried macaroni and cheese and beef stroganoff and seems to like both of them. Tonight I made tator tot hotdish, and he loved it! I need to make some more food for him this weekend, but not nearly as much as I have as in the past. It's time to him to transition to more regular food.

How could I almost forget about what I saw in the backyard today, under the birdfeeder? Usually its deer, but not today. Today I saw a pheasant (hen, to be exact) eating some of the birdseed out of the snow, along with the squirrels. So weird! Last winter Adam swore he heard a pheasant in our backyard, but I never saw it. It really does exist!