Hellobee

This is my last single digit month update. It’s kind of crazy how quickly that all happened, but I think I am starting to get to that point where I don’t really think of my life before Baby Stroller much anymore; it feels like he’s always been here. I find myself missing my tiny baby more than missing life without a baby.

Month nine seemed like a long month to me — not the blink and it’s over kind of months we’ve been having up until now. When I think of his 8 month birthday, it seems so long ago. I think it’s because we spent time in so many places and were so out of routine for much of the month.

We started off month 9 in August still in Maine, then packed up and drove home, stopping at Baby S’s Nola & Grandpa’s house for a long weekend visit with Mr. Stroller’s family. The next week Baby S went to his Nola’s house during the day since his daycare momma was still away for the summer. After Labor Day weekend Baby S was back to daycare, with a whole new set of kids and a whole bunch of different toys. He’s not the only baby anymore and by 10 months he will be the oldest. It makes me sad, but he still gets oodles of attention.

Eat
Baby S tried several new foods this month including ribs and hamburgers. Blueberries still top the list of his favorites, followed closely by yogurt and hummus. He gets grilled salmon for breakfast once a week, which he absolutely inhales. The kid can eat. We’re still doing one meal a day in the morning and nursing for the rest of the day.

Baby S joined me for lunch with girlfriends a few times this month and did great in his highchair. Because of his gluten sensitivity I don’t share too much of my lunch with him, but I carry yogurt drops in my bag so he can eat too.

Sleep
Baby S is really into his long morning nap. They last 1.5 hours +. He usually takes a second in the afternoon of about 45 minutes. If he skips his morning nap, which he sometimes does at daycare, then he’ll just take one long nap in the middle of the day.

Bath time usually starts around 5:30, maybe 5:45 if Baby S isn’t super tired. When he’s out of the bath it’s straight to the milkies then bed, sometimes as early at 6pm, but usually closer to 6:30/7. We had a short period of time where he was super upset after I’d put him to bed. He cried uncontrollably and needed to be rocked to sleep then he’d wake up when I put him down. While he has suddenly developed a little case of separation anxiety, his crazy evenings also coincided with a Wonder Week. Since they only lasted about a week before things went back to normal, we’re chalking it up to a WW. We were quickly back to putting him down in his crib awake, where plays with a few safe toys in his crib, then fall asleep on his own.

Towards the end of the month Baby S started to sleep until 8am consistently; it’s great on the weekends! Our record sleep was 14 hours this month.

Bath
We introduced more bath toys to Baby S’s bucket. We give him his bath inside the bucket, inside the bathtub. I stick the toys on the wall in the tub and he gets on his knees and reaches for them. He’ll use one toy to knock down the other toys all while holding one toy in his mouth. He still really loves his bath and we do it every night. I sit on the side of the tub next to him with the towel in my lap. When he’s done with bath he pulls up on my knees and I take him out; it’s cute.

Play
Baby S started off the month with a low crawl, which he perfected into a zippy, belly-off-the-floor-moving-at-top-speed crawl. One week into the month he pulled himself up to his knees and a few days later to standing. Since then he’s been pulling up on everything – furniture, toys, Feeney dog, mommy’s legs – you name it.

Baby S took his last swim in the lake and the pool before we left Maine. He took a quick dip in the Bay just to say he did and played in the wading pool his Nola bought for him. I’ve signed us up for swim lessons that start soon so he’ll continue to be exposed to water and hopefully be as excited to swim in the pool next summer as he was this summer.

The weekend before we left Maine, we took a family trip to my parents’ mountain cabin. It was a little brisk there in the morning and we were able to have Baby S’s first cabin fire in the fireplace. In the evening after bath, Baby S even got to enjoy a fire in the outdoor fire pit. He was very interested in the rising smoke.

He’s been doing this hilarious pirate raspberry blowing thing where he blows raspberries out of one side of his mouth, mimicking our blowing raspberries at him. You can kind of see it above. And here another attempt at it:

While at the cabin, we went for Baby S’s first canoe ride. As always, he wanted to nurse straight away, but then once he settled into the boat he was very interested in the lily pads and the splashing paddle.

Near the end of our summer he got very bored with all of his toys we’d taken to Maine with us. He wanted to play with anything except what was in his toy bag. When we got home, I ended up buying him a few things off my local moms’ list including a musical play table, which he loves.

We made him a sensory bin out of carpet, tile and wood samples and lined up his books on a low shelf in the living room for him to explore. He loves turning the pages of books! We also assembled his Radio Flyer walker and he’s able to walk across the room with it, albeit a little wobbly. He’s also a big fan of the dishwasher – his reflection on the side when it’s closed (he tries to lick his reflection) and climbing in when it’s open.

Once at home we were greeted with a big swingset in our yard from Baby S’s Nola and Grandpa. Mr. S replaced the rope on the swings, which were pre-loved, and Baby S has been swinging in the evening ever since. He loves to watch us throw the ball for Feeney while he swings. The doggie is so funny!

Toward the end of the month I had a couple of girlfriends and 15 month old Jack visit for a few days. Baby S thought Jack was awesome and loved having a friend to play with. We all went to the zoo together and while Jack was very into looking at all the animals, Baby S was more into napping in the Ergo. Jack was walking all over; it’s hard to believe Baby S will be doing the same soon.

Travel
We did the drive from Maine to Mr. S parents’ weekend house in Maryland in one day. Baby S was an amazing traveler, as always. I sat in the backseat with him with Feeney while Mr. S drove. We made four stops along the way for milk and to stretch our legs and Baby S took four naps. It’s not a drive I like to do often, but Baby S has proved to be a superstar when it comes to the long drives. When we got home again he was very interested in his nursery; I think he remembered it!

Miscellaneous
As I mentioned above, Baby S developed a touch of separation anxiety this month. He cries if I pass him off to someone else too quickly, but once he warms up to a person I can pass him off with no problem. He cried one or twice at daycare drop off, but within a couple days was diving out of my arms to his daycare momma as soon as we’d walk through the door.

Baby S is babbling quite a bit. He says Mama, which is more like a distress call for me. Everything else is a “ba” right now, including “ball” which we delight in when he calls “ba” of course. He said “da” a few times. Mr. S was nowhere to be seen, but Feeney was, maybe he was trying to say doo. Or dog. But most of the time they’re all just “ba.” I’m trying to teach him signs for milk, more, all done and drink and am still waiting for the moment of recognition. He gave me the milk sign once, but I think it was a fluke.

Stats
We had his 9 month appointment just after his 9 month birthday. Baby S is 17lbs 4oz (~7th percentile) and 29” long (~75th percentile).

BumGenius diapers have one row of snaps open in the center or velcro touching. He wears size 3 disposables at night. He’s wearing 6m and 9m clothes, but had a major growth spurt during the last week of the month when all of sudden his 6m clothes were almost too snug. He grew 1.5” in a month! He wore his very first 12m PJ’s the day before he turned 9 months. They were big on him and just a tad out of season, but I couldn’t resist.

We’ve got zero teeth over here, but his fingers are always in his mouth and the drool is at a record high lately. I’m sure those, walking and other things I can’t bear to think of yet are just around the corner.

Happy 9 months, little buddy!