Joshua is growing like a weed!  He’s already 9 months old—3/4 of the way to his first birthday!!!  We had his 9-month check-up yesterday & he got a clean bill of health from his pediatrician.  She gave us the A-OK to try more foods which I’m excited about.  Up until then, Joshua had only had cereals, fruits, & veggies.  Today, Josh had some sweet potato puffs, which are basically like Cheerios except they are shaped like little flowers & dissolve in your mouth (like a “starter” Cheerio).  He seems to like them, after the first bite when he made a face like “are you really letting me put things in my mouth?”  He does look puzzled when we are encouraging him to pick them up & put them into his mouth, when he’s used to us saying “no” when he tries to put non-foods into his mouth.  Joshua’s still working on how to pick them up & get it into his mouth but he likes working on it.  Just watching the look of concentration on his face is priceless!

As for the stats, Joshua is still on the same track as before—100th percentile for height & 50th for weight.  He’s 30 1/2″ tall & weighs 20lb 4oz.  The corpsmen who were checking him out said he looks like a 1-year-old since he’s so tall.

Erick’s got 1 more final left tomorrow & then he’s done with classes!  He takes the first part of his boards in early June, so he’ll have 4 weeks off to study for it.  That’s the main reason for Josh & I going to California at this time, so there aren’t any distractions.  We leave for Orange County on the 18th, & get to do a full Southern Californai tour to see our family & friends.  Then we head to Northern California at the end of May to visit with Erick’s parents & sister for awhile before heading back here the day after Erick’s boards.  And then we will have a couple of weeks off before Erick’s rotations start at the end of June.  Imagine—no school to worry about for the first time in forever!!!  How nice will that be???