We’ve made it to one of the big milestones – at nine months old Toby has now been out of my tummy for as long as he was in it! He’s actually 39 weeks old but as he never made it to 40 weeks (he was born 8 days early) he really has been out in the world for as long as I was pregnant. It makes you realise just how long pregnancy is because although time is flying it feels like Toby has been with us forever.

So what’s Toby been up to this month? Growing it seems! He was weighed a couple of days after he turned eight months old and was 20lb 1oz. He’s not been weighed yet this month but I did measure him yesterday and he has grown 9cm in the last two months. He has always been in the 91st centile for his height but he is now off the top of the chart! No wonder he’s already growing out of some 12-18 month sleepsuits.

On the movement front Toby is well and truly commando crawling. He does get up and on his hands and knees, and hands and feet in an impressive downward dog, but since he figured our his commando crawling he seems to have given up trying to crawl in the more traditional way. With his new found movement skills he is getting into everything. His favourite for now seems to be exploring our fireplace. We got some foam stuff to put round the bottom so he doesn’t hurt himself on the marble but all he wants to do now is eat it – so we are making our first real forays into trying to teach him what ‘no’ means. I’m rubbish though, he looks at me with such mischief in his eyes that I can’t help laughing!

Since last month we have got four new teeth so that makes six all together. Toby’s top four teeth have all come through at the same time but luckily for him (and for us!) they don’t seem to have caused him as much trouble as the bottom two did. It has made for a pretty grumpy month though, and lots of disturbed sleep although he is still only really waking up once a night at most and sometimes still sleeping right through.

Eating is still going very well. Since we got a second car a couple of weeks ago Barry is getting home from work much earlier so Toby is now having three meals a day and staying up with us for his tea. Broccoli (or brocco-lollies as we call them because Toby holds it like a lolly and sucks all the end off!) and banana seem to be favourite foods so far but he still eats everything we put in front of him. He has three bottles a day (first thing, before afternoon nap and before bed) but he isn’t always that interested in milk. We have been trying, without much success, to get him to drink water and I’ve been a bit worried that he isn’t getting enough fluids but he seems fine and is still having plenty of wet and dirty nappies so I guess he’s OK. Big news this month (which I’ve already written about here) is that Toby isn’t taking any medication now and seems to have well and truly grown out of his reflux. Hurray!

Although it’s a bit of a nightmare chasing Toby all over the house making sure he doesn’t get up to any mischief I am loving seeing him exploring everything. He has such a cheeky personality and is always smiling and laughing. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Toby has started giving us cuddles – well his latest thing seems to be trying to give us kisses too. At least that’s what I’ve decided he’s trying to do when he licks our necks and faces – it’s either that or he’s turning into a vampire baby and is just trying to eat us! He likes to give himself kisses in his mirror too!

I got Toby’s photo taken yesterday too so we can apply for his first passport ready for our holiday to France in June (which we haven’t actually booked yet!). We’re all looking forward to our first holiday abroad and Toby will be almost one by then! Before that though we’ve got a week in the Lake District to look forward to at the end of this month and we’ll see how Toby copes away from home now he’s a bit older and more aware of his surroundings. Hopefully the change to his routine won’t bother him too much.

So that’s it for this month’s update – time is going so quickly but I’m loving seeing my baby turn into a cheeky little boy.