9 Months
Alec, how can you be nine months old! Nine months. Good grief. The last 3 months have flown - just a blur of activity with you! You are crawling, pulling up, cruising. Now I am just waiting for my baby to walk. You are so big - we went to your 9 month appointment and you were off the chart in height, weight and head circumference. Good grief.
So much going on. You really stand very sturdy and straight now. If you are standing and playing with a toy, sometimes you use both hands to play and forget to hold on, but you still balance. Though sometimes you do keep your balance by leaning on the table with your belly!. When I put you down now you don't want to sit - you lock your knees so I have to put you down standing. You keep holding on to me, but if I pry your fingers open you will stand by yourself unsupported! You are wobbly, but you are getting stronger every day. I had predicted walking by Christmas. We'll see!
You have this new laugh and facial expression which I find terribly amusing. It's more of a loud "eaaaaaaa" sort of screehy but not too bad. Your mouth is open in a very wide grin when you do it, and your eyes are wide open and gleaming. You still make your "bbbbb" noises a lot too. You are just so vocal - loud consonant sounds have started and you just babble and screech to yourself in the carseat, at home, through the grocery store. Very amusing. You love to talk!
We went to visit your Mimi and Grandad while your dad was studying for his finals and to do some Christmas shopping. While we were at their house you discovered stairs! Last visit you had been eying them and were fascinated about where people were going, but this time we put you down and you crawled immediately over to them and tried to go up. A few faltering starts and you were off. Up, up and away! You are very good at it, only problem is you think you can turn right around when you get to the top and come right back down - head first. Must learn feet first! We are trying to teach you feet first to crawl off the bed as well. So far, no luck.
You have a new favorite food - rice Chex. Not interested in Cheerios at all any more. Just rice chex, apple wagon wheels, occasionally some cinnamon cookies. Cantaloupe is a big favorite along with apple and pear pieces. Except for the above you are on some sort of food strike. Oh and bagels, you do love bagels! But you now have no interest in eating anything else. No pureed food at all. I tried other finger foods like carrots, zucchini, and peas and no go. I am thinking it must have something to do with your EIGHTH TOOTH coming in. Bottom left, so now you are working on 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.
This 8th tooth is by far the worst of the lot though. Have we had some miserable nights lately. Your dad discovered the tooth when we got back form your grandparents and it was that night that was just the worst. Poor cranky guy.
Also while we were away you developed another new laugh, this one is sort of like a breathy panty laugh and you tend to make it only when you see a person who particularly interests you. You made it a lot for your grandparents which was cool. You also make it for Elmo. Love Elmo, you really have this strange fascination with him. You are starting to say MAMAMAMMA a lot, but it is starting to sound more like mamo, which makes me wonder if you aren't actually trying to say Elmo :(
Now that you have mastered climbing house stairs you are out to conquer slide steps as well. At Tot Spot (the indoor playground we go to) you have started to climb the steps. Very dangerous as you still don't understand the concept of letting go and falling. You aren't quite sure what to do when you get to the top, but you do love to slide! I put you at the top of the slide and hold my arms out and you sort of lean forward and down you come for me to catch you. Or you'll come down holding my fingers. So much fun!
Your biggest fascination though is drawers and cabinets. Anything that opens and shuts. You seem to slam your fingers in them constantly but don;t seem very phased. You usually don't try to get the stuff out of the cabinet, more just like to swing the door a lot. But you have been known to empty a few drawers.
You love hairbrushes. You will pick up my hairbrush and hold it in your hand like a royal scepter, waving it at me, your most loyal subject. Then of course you eat the handle. We have decided you like scepter type toys so your dad picked out a magic Elmo wand that plays music - should be the perfect gift! Your dad had such fun toy shopping for you! I do it so often that it was neat to see him so excited by it, trying to figure out what you'd like best, and of course what was the coolest toy out there.
We bought you a sled and you really seem to like it. Your friend Carolina came over and Vivianne and I took you guys for a spin around. You would laugh and smile when we hit a bump or I would go really fast. I was so jealous - it looked like so much fun that I wanted to be a kid again being pulled in a sled! Then another time we went to Sam's house and they have a hill so you actually got to go down a hill! Oh fun! I think you liked it, sometimes it;s hard to tell. I wonder if you are thinking, "oh, what now mom! you are such a freak."
We went to a Christmas party for grad student families and you got to see Santa. You seemed more intrigued than scared of him, wanting to touch his beard. We got a cute picture of you with him - you are wearing a little elf outfit. Poor Alec, I love to dress you up! We'll probably do a mall Santa picture as well, I am such a holiday cheeseball. Sorry son!
Alec you are such a trooper. It's been such a hectic holiday season and you are quite happy to go along with me on all our errands. You love to sit in the shopping cart, much more than your stroller. Must be because you can see more and are higher up. I was so hesitant to put you in the cart at first, but now you are so big you seem quite stable.
We went to the mall to finish some Christmas shopping and tried to take you to see Santa. I didn't think much of it, figured you'd be fine since you have absolutely no stranger anxiety, will go to anyone, don't miss me at all when I leave the room (well most times). But we put you on Santas lap and your face turned bright red and you screamed and screamed. Arched you back as well. I couldn't believe it. It was so out of character for you. And you had sat with the other Santa at the grad school party, and you love your Santa doll. All so strange. But you would have nothing to do with Santa so no picture for us!
One of your favorite games we play is "This little pig" You love the one we learned at Kindermusik that goes "This little pig danced a merry merry jig, this little pig ate candy, this little pig wore a blue and yellow wig, and this little pig was a dandy. And this little pig never grew to be big so they called him tiny little Andy!" For some reason you just love it. I tickle you like crazy starting with "And this little pig never grew...." and you just go mad for it, laughing and giggling. It works well at changing time to distract you :)
Oh Alec, what to write about your first Christmas! There are by far too many pictures to post here so I will have to figure out what to do with that. Since Santa brought me a new digital camera (with flash and 3.2 megapixel resolution!) I went a little crazy with the camera. No surprise there though, huh :) And in the end I wish I had gotten one of you me and your dad, but of course in the chaos of the day I didn't. But there are some of you and me and you and your dad at least.
We spent your first Christmas at your grandparents Bustin. Your great grandparents, Nan and Pop were there as well as Uncle Brian. Uncle Bern and Yolanda and Uncle Bob and Aunt Melissa didn't make it because of the terrible snow storm. You definitely had a white Christmas - 8 inches of snow! We were quite snowed in and it was lots of fun.
I guess I should backtrack a bit. On the way down to PA we stopped at the Corning glass factory. It is so amazing. And you were so good! We went to a movie about glass and you were fascinated by the big "TV" screen. Not a peep out of you. Then we checked out all the exhibits and then went to a live glassblowing show. You were so good during this as well. There was a Japanese tour group in the theater with us and you really made friends, laughing and playing peek a boo with some of the ladies. After that we tried to find somewhere to eat but had to go to downtown Corning. Such a cute town, I think we'll be back. You were the best of all of us, I was getting a little cranky due to lack of food :)
OK, so then off to Mimi's house for Christmas. Christmas presents from the family are always opened Christmas Eve, so you got your first taste of wrapping paper that night. At first you didn't know to rip the paper, were actually quite content to just hold the pretty boxes. But once you were shown that the paper came off and cool stuff was inside, you were all about ripping the paper!
I should add that On christmas Eve we did go up to Mimi's mall and tried to get you to sit with Santa again. Once again you turned red and screamed and got all archy. But this Santa was so nice, he suggested your Dad and I get in the picture too. So I held you (looking away fromSanta!) and we actually got a very cute picture. You look a little dazed though, poor guy!
Some of your favorite things weren't even presents. Your absolute favorite was the truck shaped box that Nan put your teddy bear in. You used it like a walker to help you get around. Making your "BBBBBBBB" noise as you pushed it all around. Then you had a good old time lifting a clothes box up and down over your head.
And how could I forget - the grandparents taught you "So Big!" when we got there. The game where somebody says So Big and you raise your hands over your head in response. Very cute. I was a bit dismayed since I have been teaching you sign language for 2 months now and no signing, but they teach you to put your arms up in response to words in one evening. Hmmmph.
What do you want to know about your first Christmas Alec? What do you wish I would tell you? So hard to put it all in words. To sum it up, your great-Nan said that having you there made Christmas even more special than before, that it wouldn't be the same without you. I couldn't agree more.
The simple things amazed you. The first time you saw the Christmas tree with the lights and ornaments you started making your "awe" babble. Sort of like "hooooo ooooh." And you were fascinated by the dancing Santa. Again. And you attacked the stairs at Mimi and Granddad's yet again, absolutely fascinated by them and your ability to go up them. Though you still haven't mastered going down. Though you are getting better at feet first off the bed!
All in all Alec, your first Christmas was very sweet and special. Just having you there made so many people happy. You were of course thoroughly spoiled but you deserve it. Mom's sweet smiling happy boy.
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