9 and a half month update

So, here's where we are: Milo has been crawling for a long time, and pulling himself up to standing. He likes to crawl over to the built-in bookcase, pull up on it, then throw all the books onto the floor.

He isn't cruising yet, as I understand the term - he doesn't go anywhere once he's standing, unless he's holding onto something with wheels. He's got two teeth on the bottom that have been there a while, and 3 or 4 up top that have just poked through. The teeth played havoc with his sleeping habits (some of that was happening during the holidays, so the traveling didn't help to maintain a sleep routine), but we decided a couple of weeks ago to get serious about the sleep training and started letting him cry for a while at night before doing anything about it. He's much better now - he mostly wakes up no more than once a night, and goes back to sleep quickly after a diaper change.

On the food front, he's been eating various sorts of jarred baby food for a while, and he's getting more interested in finger foods that he can feed himself: cut up pieces of cheese; cut up pears; off-brand, wheat-free cheerios. He also likes cottage cheese and hummus. He likes drinking water out of a regular cup, but he's not too interested in the sippy cup yet. We're working on that.

The most recent development is that he's starting to show signs of sentience. He can wave. He seems to understand what pointing's all about. He will respond, at least occasionally, to his name. He's figured out how to operate a new toy from his grandmother that requires you to hit a button before it will start working. It's just possible that, when I say 'come here' and make appropriate gestures, that he will in fact come here. It's not at all clear that he's learned to use language himself, though. He will sometimes say 'dadada', but not with any special reference to me: it seems to be a general expression of pleasure. 'Mamama' is reserved for when he's upset.

Oh yes, he's still very cute.