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Just got back from B's 9 month appt.

Length: 30 1/4 (95%)

Weight: 22 lb, 14.5 oz. (77%)

Head circumference: 47 1/4 (94%)


Brennan, of course, did well at the appointment and flirted his head off. He twinkled his eyes, looked gorgeous and made his shout for hello. (He's way into shouting these days and he fully expects you to shout right back. It's a kind of grunt/growl thing. Then it becomes a copy-cat thing that only ends when he can't control his giggles.)

He's hit all the marks for what he's supposed to be doing right now except he's not choosing to say Mama just yet. He knows my name, he looks right at me if you say it. He's just not that into playing along with us with Mama or Dada. He says Dada when he's looking for him, quietly under his breath, but he's too stubborn to actually say it to his father.

He crawls like mad. He stands, he stretches from furniture to furniture to walk and doesn't stop even after banging himself on the head like a million times. He is able to sit without support, roll over, pivot and he'd much rather feed himself that bother with us.

Luckily, he exceeded these milestones a while ago. And looking over the next group of milestones, he's already met all but two: saying one or two words and walking.

I do think he calls his brother Ba-Ba. I could be imaging but the nanny often refers to Jack has Big Brother. I have heard her say to Brennan, "Look at Big Brother! He's so funny!" and other such things.

I am excited to see what he's going to say. It's obvious he thinks his bro is the funniest person on earth but he's also annoyed by him. That brother dynamic should be a fun mix to watch.

We did have a scare at the appointment. The other night when Joe was giving the boys a bath we noticed Brennan's head had changed shape. We were immediately worried but tried not to panic and decided to wait for Brennan's well-baby check-up. As we described his symptoms to the doctor, she grew very serious and started talking about plates fusing and X-Rays and C-Scans and surgery ... I felt panic as I looked at his fluffy strawberry blond head. I knew Hubbie was feeling the same way. I saw large staples and a scar and pure awfulness.

I think she knew we were freaked out because she quickly assured us he was on target developmentally and he'd accomplished all her checkpoints in the first minute she was in the office -- without even trying.

But the image of baby brain surgery couldn't be washed away.

Note to everyone with a baby or about to have a baby: The shape of a head can look different at different stages as the plates fall into place and fuse together properly. What Joe was worried about most was actually what's left of his soft spot. What I was worried about most was a "corner" that was actually just his plate growing and shifting.

To quote the doctor: "He's perfect."