This phase of baby-hood is amazing. It has been a ton of fun! His personality is expanding by leaps and bounds and he is curious about everything! He tries new things every day and each day finds him amused or perplexed by something new. Every trick he perfects and skill he grasps has me proud and smiling. For once I’m actually writing this on his 9-month-old day. That means instead of trying to remember where we were at a couple weeks ago (because babies change so quickly at this point), I can instead just blab about what life is like right now.
He found his “angry” cry last week. I give him my best “eyebrow” when he does it to let him know it’s not cool to get mad at mommy when you don’t get your way.
His favorite consonant this days is “Sssss” and “thhhh” because he has 4 big teeth in there now! His top 2 teeth fully cut through this month and that last one was a nightmare! Those top teethies are BIG, too! He might end up having Momma’s chompers. I LOVE his big beaver smile. Lol. Although one development that’s not as exciting: BITING. He doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing is wrong or hurts but he just bites everything and sometimes that includes my shoulders when I’m holding him… or other things….
He is SUCH a flirt lately, too. He just can’t get enough of the ladies at the grocery store… and the bank… and standing in line at restaurants. The baby charm oozes out of his adorable face. He’s taken the “nose scrunch” to another level and his smile is just huge and wrinkly and I adore it! I’m probably using up all the stuff I would write in the categories below but I feel like blabbing about my baby. Haha.
He can officially pull up on furniture and shuffle back and forth along the couch. He is VERY proud of himself for this accomplishment. He still hasn’t reached the point where he just crawls around. He can army crawl like a champ to anything he wants, but it seems like he tries to stand up more than anything. He explores everything, which I knew would happen but it’s like watching my favorite TV show, just seeing what he’ll climb up to or under next.
He LOVES books. It’s one of the best ways to calm the fussiness when it hits or just to get him excited. We bought some new ones, several Sandra Boynton books, influenced by the recommendation of the Happy Family Movement. He loves them, I also love them. I giggled several times when I read them in the store, picking them out.
His hair is growing in lighter at the roots, it makes his hair looks highlighted and stripey, in the cutest way. Calico, as my mom said.
Ok, I guess we should move on to the next bit of this update.
Growth
According to the Wii he’s right about the same this month.
Development
Strength & Mobility
Well I mentioned already that he’s army-crawling everywhere and pulling himself up on things. I haven’t seen him go from a crawling position to sitting, so I’m not sure he’d be able to go from laying to sitting on his own, but he can pull himself up from laying or sitting, as long as he’s near some furniture. I’ve also seen him use every object in sight to pull up on, the wall, my body, nearby books and boxes and toys.
Hand/Eye Coordination
He loves shaking things and pounding on things, whether that is mommy’s shoulder or the table or any nearby surface. He’s definitely working on his pincer grasp. We tried cherrios right at the 9-month mark and it was so precious to watch him figure that out. When he knows what he wants he just goes for it. Your glasses, your plate, his toy. My nose.
Food
I guess I’ve been lazy about food because Miles hasn’t really tried anything new lately. I keep meaning to try more savory dishes, make some meat blends. I guess I’m a combo of lazy and scared lol. But I’m going to confirm after his 9-month well visit that I can try some new things that have a little sugar and maybe some dairy? I don’t understand why it’s recommended that babies don’t have added sugar or salt until at least a year old but all baby finger foods like those puff things have both. And I really want him to do a cake smash for his 1st birthday but I don’t want him to go into some kind of sugar shock.
Sleep
We moved our mattress into Miles’ room and we all sleep there on the floor. It sounds ridiculous, and it kind of is, but I actually like it. He still wakes up 3-5 times a night and I have nearly perfected the roll over and nurse and go back to sleep cycle. I’ve considered trying the crib again but at this point I’d just rather do what we’re doing. For purely selfish reasons. Why would I want to stand up, pick up a baby and carry him over to the chair to nurse and walk back to the crib when as things are now I can just roll over and done? I also just feel like it’s a little late to completely change the sleep habits of a baby I basically taught to sleep next to me. I feel like it would be cruel to completely change things on him now when he hasn’t known anything else. Especially when I don’t want things to change, either. Lol.
Social
He loves people watching and smiling, as long as he’s in the familiar embrace of myself or Steven. He’s so fascinated by other kids and you can tell he wants to run around and play like they do. He’ll look over at people and flash them the biggest grin, but sometimes they won’t even be looking at him.
Memories
It was great to visit my parents and see Lizzy and meet Natalia in person for the first time. Miles and Natalia hit it off and there were so many cute moments, watching them play and discover together. Not to mention it was awesome for me to have some BFF time! Miles also had some much needed Nana and Pappy time, which he LOVED. As well as Ben Ben time. My bro is so great with the nephews!
We took him to the pool for the first time and he loved it! Steven was a total water baby growing up and I think Miles may be, too.
And of course, there is nothing like waking up to that wide smile and wondering what wonderful things we’ll both discover that day.
Other Photos
All his cute little expressions are amazing!