Sam is Nine Months Old

I was doing so well getting this update out on time, then I ran short adding pictures and video and we went out of town. It’s been two weeks now since I wrote this letter.

I’m writing letters to my first-born at his major milestones, which so far have been 3 months and 6 months.

*****

Dear Sam,

You hit the 9 month milestone a few days ago, and these last few months with you have been so much fun. You are turning into a little boy right before our eyes, and are still as happy and smiley as ever. As your daddy likes to tell people, we feel like we hit the ‘baby jackpot’ with you.

You are so much more interactive and mobile now and gaining independence, though you are also becoming more of a mama’s boy. You enjoy sitting and playing with toys by yourself for short periods, especially if I put music on for you.

Speaking of music, you laugh and smile when I turn it on, and it often calms you down if you’re fussy. Even one of the ladies in the church nursery discovered this trick. You turn to look toward the source of the sound when I first turn on music, and often will turn again to look or give a little laugh when a new song starts.

You also often laugh and smile when we pull out books to read, which just thrills this mama’s book-loving heart. You’ve learned to turn pages and open flaps, and you enjoy touch-and-feel books and lyrical books like Dr. Seuss among others.

Reading with Daddy from Sarah on Vimeo

Your favorite toys are balls, blocks, and stuffed animals. Just in the last few weeks you’ve started to really enjoy taking things out of bigger containers. Anything that you can throw, has an interesting texture, or makes noise also makes a great toy. The puppies continue to be a great source of entertainment, and their toys are more interesting than your own.

Sometimes I look at you and see your daddy looking back at me. People have long said you are a miniature version of your dad, but I see it more and more in startling moments. Certain looks, certain smiles look just like your daddy’s baby pictures.

You give great hugs, but really only to me. I love the way you wrap your little arms around my neck and reach up to finger my hair. GramGram informed me that her little brother, your great Uncle Bruce, used to do the same thing when he was a baby! When you are sleepy, you especially like to gently play with the hair on my neck. And when you nurse lately, you’ve been constantly reaching for my hair and face as well.

You give me kisses now too and I can feel your two new bottom teeth against my cheek when you plant one on me. You’ve learned to wave bye-bye and always wave goodnight to Daddy each night when he leaves your room.

Hugs may be reserved for Mommy, but Daddy gets your biggest belly laughs. He knows just how to get you to squeal with delight and give us your whole-face grin and infectious laugh. You’re ticklish all over–feet, sides, belly–and that’s another great way to coax giggles out of you.

At your 9 month check-up with Dr. F, you weighed about 19 lbs. (25th percentile), measured 28 inches long/tall (50th percentile), and 17.5 inches in head circumference (25th percentile). This is the first time you haven’t outgrown your clothes a month of ahead of time. You’re still wearing a lot of your 9 months clothes, but fitting some of your 12 months things as well.

You’ve been rolling over for awhile, but finally got the strength to roll over on your curved changing table pad. You do not like being on your back and love to try to roll over mid-diaper change. You’re not crawling yet, but you are creeping around on your belly pretty well. You get closer to real crawling every week and I predict it won’t be long now. You can pull yourself up to standing by holding onto someone’s fingers, but haven’t figured out how to do it using furniture or anything else. Walking with help is wobbly, but fun and you’re taking bigger steps all the time. We do laps around the coffee table and dining room table, and you really enjoy it.

Baby Steps from Sarah on Vimeo

We’ve learned you are a sympathy crier in the church nursery, but the paci always seems to help. You do great on Sunday mornings, but will often burst into tears if you catch a glimpse Mommy and I don’t pick you up right away.

I tend to focus on the things that you do in these letters I write to you, but here are some things you don’t do. You don’t drool or have the usual baby instinct to put everything in your mouth. You have never rolled over more than once consecutively in either direction. In fact, you’ve still never been keen to roll from belly to back; you just don’t like being on your back for very long.

We finally figured out a sleeping routine that works well for all of us. You go to bed at 9pm so that you get to spend some time with Daddy when he gets home from work. You’re usually up twice in the night (this part doesn’t work out so well for Mama) before waking up for the day around 9am. Around 8 months we figured out some nighttime sleep issues together and you were only waking up once to eat, but then you got a little cold and cough and you’ve been back to your old twice a night wakings. You take a long, usually 2 hour nap at about 11:30/12:00 and another usually hour long nap about 2.5-3 hours after waking up from your first nap.

We embarked on the journey of introducing solid food between 6 and 7 months, though I didn’t give it to you consistently until around 8 months. We’re mostly following the ideas in a book called Baby-Led Weaning. That means you’ve never had baby cereal or jarred baby purees. I have a food grinder to make homemade purees, but I’ve only used that a few times. You’ve learned quickly to take your own bites and chew regular table food. So far you have tried the following foods: banana, pear, apple, applesauce, yogurt, cheerios, grapefruit, carrots, hummus, sweet potato, regular potato, broccoli, chicken, cheddar cheese, rice, strawberry, pasta, and corn. So far your favorites seem to be pears, carrots, banana, and sweet potato, though the only things you haven’t been too keen on are broccoli and pasta. You still nurse like a champ though you’ve gotten a lot more efficient. We’re well on our way to my goal of nursing to at least 12 months.

You keep up a good chorus of babbles and screeches. Your favorite thing to say is “da, da, da, da, ba!”, and while you don’t associate your sounds with anyone or thing yet, Daddy does so love to hear you say “da da” over and over again.

Babbling from Sarah on Vimeo

Little man, you are our pride and joy. Your daddy and I are having so much fun watching you grow up.

Love,
Mama

PS: Here are some more pictures from the last three months…

Trying your first solid food, banana:

7 months old:

The dogs have quickly learned to gather ’round when you eat:

Enjoying a warm early spring day:

8 months old:

A typical day of play with your sisters close by:

Not showing mama your two bottom teeth:

9 months old:

Best buds, Sammy and Daddy: