:: nine months ::
How do these months keep going by so fast?!
You are so funny right now! You are talking all the time. You are clapping. You are singing. You are dancing. You are waving. You are constantly blowing raspberries on our legs and arms. You are giving kisses. You are giving cuddles and hugs. You are playing hide and seek. You are turning the pages as we read stories. You are standing on your own for a few seconds at a time. You are walking holding onto only one hand instead of two. You are pulling yourself up onto walls without anything to “grab” onto. You are going crazy with excitement anytime we go for a swim. You are infatuated with “big kids” and love to play with them.
You are just so, so sweet! And clever! And hilarious! And amazing!
Earlier this month you got two more teeth! You now have all four front teeth.
You are making the kkkkk sound a lot these days. And you think it’s hilarious to hear the ssssss, buzzzzzz, and szhh sounds (though you can’t make them yourself yet).
I still nurse you four times a day and give you three meals of solids. You’re starting to eat more and more finger foods and also “adult” foods. You’ve now had chicken, rice, and veggie puree as well as pureed chicken curry (with rice and veg), pureed spaghetti bolognaise, and pureed tacos! You sometimes eat a lot and other times will barely take anything. You looooove (dry) Cheerios at the moment, as well as cottage cheese, toast with cream cheese, and bananas.
You got sick for the first time this last month – a horrific cough (which has hung on for weeks afterwards), sneezing, lots of congestion, low fever. A few nights you woke up quite a bit – gagging and choking on your own phlegm. It was so sad to see, and hard when there was not much we could do for you. L You were pretty miserable for the better part of a week. It was hard, but you were a trooper! And now I can say I’ve had a motherhood rite of passage – caring for a sick child. It’s really not fun to see your little one suffer! BUT, you’re okay now and I’m so glad.
We’ve had lots of fun with swimming this month. Although we haven’t gone as much as I’d like (I want to at least go once a week!), we have been able to go a few times to the rock pool and the beach. You just love it and go wild as soon as we get in there. You seriously have no fear when it comes to the water, which is both delightful and a little scary! We’ll have to make sure you learn how to swim at a young age!
Your crawling is now 95% “normal” and about 5% the “Mowgli crawl” on your hands and feet. You switch over to the Mowgli crawl when you want to go faster… and I think it’s really just because you can’t wait to be up on your feet for good! But you're all over the place - up, over, under, behind, around, in front of... Sometimes you even get a little overly-ambitious and get stuck...
My favorite time of the day at the moment is bedtime. We do the same as we always have: bed, jammies, nursing, stories, songs, prayer and bed… But now you help “read” the story as well, clap along to the songs, and then I stand up to sing you the “sleepy song” and as soon as I begin singing you fling your head down on my shoulder and melt into my chest. Your little arms go around my neck and you either listen quietly or sing along. It is just so, so precious. Mid-song you will usually perk up, look around the room, and then collapse into my chest again with your head on my shoulder. I love the way you wind-down during that song and just enjoy the mama cuddles. It really is the best.
Some nights you also grab onto my cheeks, pull my face into yours, and smother me with your slobbery open-mouth kisses. I love it, just love it. Then I lay you down and give you “kisses on the cheeks, kisses on the forehead, kisses on the lips, and Eskimo kisses on the nose.” You grin and hold still while you get kissed all over (opening your mouth to kiss me back during the “kisses on the lips”), and then giggle when you get the Eskimo kisses on your nose. Some nights when you are really tired, you don’t want the kisses at all and you squirm and squeal until I just leave you alone. Those are the nights you are asleep before I’m even out the door!
You are so curious, even more than last month. You open drawers, look under things, study details (you love moles and buttons and zippers!), and you always look like you’re on a mission to find something.
You’re always on your feet now days – rarely just sitting and playing. You can easily hold on with one hand and have a toy in another. Your balance is quite good and you can easily stand on your own, although I think it still makes you a bit nervous. (As soon as you realize you’re not being supported you immediately plop down to your bum!) You love to walk around the coffee table or along the couch by yourself, and when you are walking holding our hands you easily transfer your weight and step confidently with your little belly pushed out in front of you.
Your favorite place at the moment is standing up and looking out the window. You check out what's going on in the neighborhood, watch the birds, listen to cars. It holds your attention for a long time! (Well, a long time in baby time at least!)
We’ve had many visitors on base these last few weeks for different things going on, and everyone—I mean everyone—falls in love with you. You are such a charmer, young man!
You continue to delight and amaze us. We can’t wait to take you to Sydney and Oregon
Thank you, dear one, for continuing to make us laugh and notice the small things. You are wonderful.
i love you peanut,
mama xx
P.S. It's getting harder and harder to take your photo because you are never still for more than seconds at a time!
