9 Months in Review

Well Bry, you're officially 3/4 of a year old. Unfortunately, the governing bodies in this country fail to recognize the status of someone who's lived as long as you - no voting, driving, smoking, gambling, or other rights seem to be conveyed to the 9-month old set. Those cheerios that you got for the first time the other day seemed to excite you quite a bit though, so I'm not too worried that you'll be picketing outside the capital next week in support of more rights for the under-one-year old crowd. It doesn't take much for you to feel like you're already living life to the fullest, is all I'm saying.

In case you're wondering, this month you were 28 and 1/4 inches tall (I prefer to think of you as 2'4") and weighed 20 pounds, 14 ounces. Your height is at the 50th percentile (down from the 90th at 6 months), and your weight is at the 60th percentile. I guess if we do the math: daddy (freakishly tall) + mama (short) = Bryson (average), it all makes sense. However, the pediatrician tells me that your "true" growth trend won't really be figured out until you're about 2 years old. Until then, if you could give me some hints about how much you feel like you're gonna grow in the next few months, that would be great. I get the feeling I'm going to have to return a lot of the 18-month winter clothes I so thoughtfully bought for you back when I thought you'd be clearing door frames in the near future. That's the thing about you babies, I guess. Just when your daddy and I think we have you figured out, you go and change things up, just to keep us on our toes.

If daddy and I, as your current bosses, did a 9-month performance review, I think it would look something like this:

Bryson is an outstanding employee who always shows up for work early (in the 5:30 - 6:00 am range). This clearly shows remarkable dedication to his primary and secondary tasks: chasing the cat and scattering toys to every corner of the house. Bryson's productivity levels have increased steadily since day one on the job, leading to record-breaking performance in the last quarter. He has put in overtime on a regular basis, working weekends to ensure that no shoe in the house misses oral inspection, and that all electrical cords are present and accounted for. Bryson has also been vigilant about on-the-job security, daily testing the safety gates that surround his work environment by rattling them vigorously. Overall, performance is rated as superior.

Keep up the good work, Bry!

The senior executive hard at work.