The thing about 9 months.

Yet another thing I forgot about in the roughly 3 year interim between my kids--at around 9 months, my boys started rolling around on the changing table.  E really loves doing this, hanging out on his belly, and reaching for what's over his head.  Lovely kiddo today stuck his foot in poop.  Ew, poop, especially eating table food poop.  Gross.

Some other nuggets that I want to remember, should my sons have kids and their wives are interested in advice from their crazy mother-in-law.

• Swaddling is awesome.  Both boys started to break free at about 5 months, at which point I started using the sleep sack.  It took a little bit of adjustment for them to sleep well again, but it really helped keep him warm without a blanket.  At least, we used this until he was old enough to sleep with a blanket, around 6 or 7 months.
• Blankies quickly became a security/cuddly issue for both boys.  E sleeps with a giraffe, and every time I put him in his crib, no matter how sleepy he is, he will reach for the giraffe.  A slept with a bear, though he is not very particular about who he sleeps with these days.
• On potty training.  I think I've documented many of the steps we took with A here, but I really want to remember one trick.  We all know that potty training for number 2 is harder than for number one.  It's about losing a part of himself, it's about control.  Our doctor said that the kid will hold it in, making it even harder to go.  So, we gave him laxative to make it as easy to go as possible.  When I knew he had to go (and believe me, it was easy to know!), everything would stop--no toys, games, tv, nothing.  Sometimes, we even took off his pants.  Once we started that routine, he started using the potty pretty quickly.

That's all I can think of for right now!