Hellobee

Month ten started off all sunshine and roses and ended all lions and tigers. Roar. I’ll be the first to admit that having a baby who has been a surprisingly great sleeper spoiled me. This month began the 10:30pm check-in with mommy, a fifteen minute nurse and rock session that always began juuuuust as I drifted off to sleep in my room. Then it moved to 9:30 and now hovers around 8:30 (knock on wood.) Of course that in itself isn’t bad at all. But combine it with a 5:45 wake up, a couple weeks of solo momma & Baby S time, a momma who is a night-owl and cannot put herself to bed early and this momma is tired. I’m blaming Wonder Week 46 and hoping it passes soon. Or maybe it’s those first two teeth that joined us this month!

Teeth
Tooth #1 came in like a lamb – the morning of his 9 month appointment I felt his gums like I have been for months. He’d been leaving a snail trail of drool everywhere he crawled, but he wasn’t fussy and his sleep was great. So seriously great that when I wish to stop time, I wish to stop in mid-September.

(look at all that drool!)

We had zero teeth for months. That afternoon when his pediatrician asked whether he had any teeth, Mr. S and I confidently said, “nope, no teeth yet.” Then, she peered into his mouth and what does she see? The white bud of a bottom left (his left) tooth that popped through during the day. Two weeks later tooth #2 appeared after two days of extreme fussiness and a desire to be held all day long, which was trying for his daycare momma who has two other not-yet-mobile infants to care for too. Once #2 came through baby S was all (toothy, albeit crooked ones) smiles and babbles again. His nighttime sleep, unfortunately, remains a little off.

(see them, they’re in there!)

Sleep
Along with the night wakings, baby S dropped a nap. That makes one nap, at 9 months old. I’d like to officially call all my friends who told me the drop-to-one nap happens between 14-16 months, liars. And it’s not one of these epic mid-day, three hour naps they all enjoy. But on the weekends a 1-1.5 hour nap two to three hours after he wakes up is just long enough for me to clean up a bit, put a load of laundry on and shower, which is all I really need. Then we’re off and playing all day long… until 5:30 when he crashes and we start the bath-boob-bed routine we’ve had for months…

…and he’s sound asleep by 6:30.

Play
We’re back in the pool after a month away from PawPaw’s bucket; we started swim lessons! Baby S was so excited to get in the water during our first lesson. Each time we go he squeals and splashes and has a great time. He’s getting better with his back float, but still doesn’t love it. Last weekend he dunked his face underwater four times. Unlike most of the other babies, he didn’t care at all and just kept swimming for the edge of the pool where he can now crawl out quite well. He has been dunking his face in his bathbucket for a couple weeks now too, but I’m not sure if that’s his attempt to drink the water or if he’s really dunking his face.

We usually run the two miles to the pool and on the way home I bundle baby S all cozy in his new stroller BundleMe. He loves riding while I run; I try to pick him up from daycare in the jogger at least once a week and while Mr. Stroller is away we take long walks with Feeney before bath every evening.

Baby S’s favorite toys include his fake corn, plastic whiffle ball, a little red wooden car (he loves to throw and chase everything, including the car) and a piece of cardboard at home (it has teeth marks on both ends – one side from Baby S and the other from Feeney) and assortment of faux junk food at daycare. He often greets me with a donut in his hands. He’s also very into cruising the toys at daycare now – they have several activity tables lining one wall; he walks to the end and then holds out an arm as if to say “move that couch over here so I can keep going.”

He’s not doing that much cruising at home — he much prefers to zip around at a super fast crawl — however, he has learned to climb stairs at home – a new skill I discovered one evening when things were a little too quiet. I turned around after having put him on the ground less than a minute earlier and there he was, halfway up the stairs, lifting an arm to wave hello.

We let him climb a few more times with a spotter behind him and then the novelty wore off. He hasn’t attempted a climb in a couple weeks.

He’s also very into playing with doors right now. He wants all doors shut. “Shut the front door, Maddox.” It makes me giggle.

We hosted our first play date while daddy was away. We intended to go to the park, but rain forced us to change our plans and we had four babies to play in our living room. One little girl brought a drum set that baby S really liked, so we went out and bought one too later that week when we saw it on sale at Target. It was a very fun trip “on our way” to daycare. Mommy may have piled some birthday presents into the stroller too. Shhh, don’t tell daddy.

Earlier in the month we went to baby S’s first Navy football game!

It was soooo hot outside that we couldn’t spend enough time with our friends who didn’t have a tailgate tent to shield us from the sun. No worries, we ended up in Mr. Stroller’s parents’ tailgater where they had a huge tent, lots of food and tons of people to watch baby S. We didn’t see him for a couple hours. Baby S managed a very short nap in the Ergo as we walked into the stadium and then watched all of the action from Mr. S’s shoulders. He loved it.

Baby S also loves his dog. He has a special laugh/squeal that he only uses when touching the dog. It used to be that he’d crawl around the dog, then he moved to crawling over the dog when he was in the way, now baby S actively seeks out the dog and crawls over him, head butts him or if he’s getting sleepy, will cozy up to Feeney’s fur.

(wearing the sweater I knit him)

In the morning we’ll feed the dog then go to the kitchen where I put baby S down while I make coffee. Within seconds he’s bolting across the house for the dog and his food dish. It’s like Groundhog Day every day; unlike the stairs, the novelty of the dog bowl does not wear off.

The swing is also still a big hit. We packed up his baby swings a while ago, but he still gets his fix at the park every day with his daycare momma and at home, outside in his personal park.

Apparently he causes quite the scene when it’s time to get out of the swing at the park. He really hasn’t learned that he needs to share with the other babies yet.

Eat
Midway through the month we started a small second meal of solids in the late afternoon/evening. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence but every single day he gets an afternoon snack, he wakes for milk as I’m going to bed. I’m currently sending him to daycare with a snack to have at 3:30 in hopes that it won’t interrupt his sleep, but so far it’s not working. Ironically, if he does not have any snacks and just has milk, he sleeps through the night. It’s maddening since he’s so wee and should eat a bit more.

We had baby S tested for food allergies at his 9 month appointment and were very happy to learn that he doesn’t have a true gluten allergy. It’s just a gluten sensitivity, which means there’s a good chance he’ll outgrow it by the time he’s 2 or 3. Unfortunately it’s still in full effect. Stupid mommy forgot that meatballs are held together with breadcrumbs. Baby S had one for breakfast and threw up several times throughout the day. Oops.

Miscellaneous
I bought the Maxi Cosi Pria 70 convertible car seat for my car a few weeks ago. He loves it, I love it! It can rear-face to 48” tall and forward face for a long time after that. It’s rated one of the longest lasting convertible seats in terms of height and weight limits, and is specifically recommended for cars with a tight back seat (front to back, not side to side.) Plus it has side impact head support, which I like and Baby S doesn’t mind at all. Baby S and I could be a walking advertisement for it, we love it that much.

Baby S had his first cold this season, which was very short-lived. We propped his mattress up with a towel to help keep his nose clear and used the snot sucker, aka torture device, in the morning. We took hot showers together and he ate chicken soup from one of his stacking cups. He was feeling better within two days and all better within a week.

Mid-month I opened the door to baby S’s nursery to find him standing in his crib looking eye-to-eye with me. He’s been pulling up for over a month, but it took him this long to do it in his crib. Now it’s all standing in the crib all the time. And near the end of the month I walked in to find a woodchuck in the crib, gnawing away on the side rails. I made crib rail covers that night.

Baby S learned to clap this month. He takes a lot of pride in his abilities and expects tons of praise when he claps. Sometimes he claps when he’s nursing. Momma’s milk is that good.

The weather is getting a little chillier so I bought baby S’s first shoes – at least his first shoes that fit since his Tiny Toms are still too big – a pair of Robeez that look like sneakers. He wears them often, or sometimes just socks, but his feet are covered more often than not again these days. It takes several more minutes to dress him in the morning – gone are the days of summer time one piece rompers. We’ve also been lucky enough to have several rainy days when I’ve been able to dress him in his yellow rain slicker. I love little clothes.

We’ve started to apply to be put on preschool waitlists. I had my first preschool visit last week and I didn’t love it, but I don’t think I’d love any preschool at this point. We have a few more visits lined up this month. I don’t want my baby to grow up and go to preschool. At all. I may have called my mom and cried after the first visit.

Stats
Baby S is still under 18 pounds and is super long – I don’t quite know how long though, he moves too much when I try to measure him. He’s still wearing BG diapers on the second rise setting with the Velcro touching or two rows of snaps open. At night he wears size 3 Huggies Pure & Natural. He wears mostly 6-12 clothes from Baby Gap and 9 months from Carters. However, most of his warm clothes are size 12m or 12-18 so we’ve slowly started to introduce those into the mix. The shirts especially are very big. I’ve packed up all of his 3-6m stuff and most of his 6m stuff is making its way to the storage bags too.

With the passage into the double-digit months I’m realizing that one is just around the corner, so I’ve started to plan his baby S’s first birthday party. I have to admit though, I’d like to freeze time and am not looking forward to it one bit!