Nine Months

It’s official, kiddo…you’ve now spent just as long living as your own separate person as you spent living as a part of me.  I don’t know whether to pat myself on the back for surviving both nine-month stints or sit down to a good cry because this whole passage of time thing won’t stop, or even slow down, no matter how hard I wish it would.  So, maybe I’ll just do a little of both tonight.

Your ninth month was a big one for you, and while I feel like I say that basically every month, this time, I really do mean it.  It’s not that you haven’t had big months of development before now, it’s just that with every passing month, you rewrite the book on what development is.  You are just knocking out milestones left and right these days, and it’s all so crazy to me, how soon you’ve become a real, live, actual person.  Everybody tells you how quickly these things happen, but when it starts happening with your own kid?  Consider my mind boggled.

For crying out loud, you’re crawling now!  And zooming all over creation in your walker!  And pulling yourself up into a standing position using the pack n’ play, or crib, or coffee table, or exersaucer, or whatever else you can get your hands on!  It’s exhausting actually, for you and for me, and while it has led to better naps, it hasn't worked quite so well on the overnight sleep schedule.  So, if we could maybe put a stop to all of the moving…  No?  Ok, fine.  Looks like someone needs to up her cardio minutes, just so she can keep up with you these days.  Thanks for that.

You’re eating cheese and watermelon and cereal and other various foods now, but only because your father insists that it’s time for you to develop new tastes.  If it were up to me, you’d still be eating nothing but baby food, and you had a little incident with a small piece of chicken that I think backs me up, but other people say it just means you’re not quite ready for chicken, not that you’re not ready for anything.  So we continue.  Maybe I’d feel better about the whole situation if you’d sprout some teeth already, but no…you’d rather just taunt us with swollen gums and excessive fussiness every couple of days instead.

We headed to Florida for a few days this month, and you were able to stick your toes in the sand (fun!!) and feel the waves on your feet (not so much fun!!) for the first time.  Turns out, you are a terrible car baby, and you absolutely refuse to sleep in your carseat until you are so exhausted, you physically can’t keep your eyes open another second.  Usually, this seems to hit once you’ve been screaming uncontrollably for a half an hour, so I’m going to have to try to change that up.  I am not so much a fan of the screaming uncontrollably, and it doesn’t appear to do you much good, either.  And yet, that’s become a bigger part of your repertoire this month.

So, that’s been exciting.

You are pretty much the world’s friendliest baby, and you have no fear of strangers.  And really, you have no preference for your mommy over these strangers, either, unless you happen to be extremely tired at the moment.  I think that’s both a good thing and a bad thing, honestly.  You are perfectly happy with anybody that wants to hold you, so I can get a break from your 20+ pounds of baby-ness from time to time, but I don’t get to do the whole dramatic sighing, ‘this kid just won’t let me out of her sight’ thing that I’ve been working on ever since I found out I was pregnant.  And I was getting so good at it, too!

This month, you made your first trip into the office to have lunch with mommy and daddy, and everybody talked about how adorable you are, and how you are definitely your daddy’s daughter.  I tried to pass my genes on to you, kid, but apparently, his were stronger.  Sorry about that.  You are ok with it, though, since you seem to fall more in love with your own reflection every time you see it.  You maintained your love affair with the pool, even though your father insists on dunking you a couple of times, just to get you used to it.  I’m not 100% behind this, but it doesn’t really seem to phase you at all, so I guess we’ll go with it.  You still hate the boat, or at least you hate the life jacket we make you wear when we get on the boat.
 
You clap for yourself when you sit up on your own. You also clap along and pat your belly when we play patty cake.  You love to wave good morning to the baby pictures of your dad and I that are in your room.

You loved Riley until she got so excited to see you crawling towards her that she ran to meet you halfway, and knocked you flat down on the ground.  I think you forgave her pretty quickly, though.  You love the dogs’ toys, and you are more interested in their toy basket than in your own, and when you have your mind set on getting to that basket, you are awfully hard to deter.  But you are awfully hard to deter once you have your mind set on anything, so that’s not really a surprise.  I wonder where you picked up that little trait?

You are funny and sweet and adventurous.  You snuggle and squirm and talk up a storm, even though nobody has any idea what you are talking about.  You say mama, and it makes me so happy, even though I know you don't link that word to me, yet.

Just when I think you can’t get any more perfect, you do.

I love you to pieces, Bug…happy birthday!