nine months

Dear Joshua,

So much has happened in the last two months that I’m not sure this letter will be able to do it justice. That’s probably because I’m a slacker and I failed to get your eight month letter written so now I’m having to cram everything into one. Regardless, you are changing at lightning speed and that makes it hard just as well. Your face is changing shape, you hair is getting a tad lighter, your torso is thinning just a bit, your babbles have gotten louder, and your mobility has improved tenfold. I just can’t keep up with it all!

You’ve developed a fondness for your mama lately and you cling to me quite a bit. When I’m making lunch or dinner you swiftly crawl to my legs and pull up on them so that you’re standing by my side. Then you beg and beg to be picked up. I remember this age with your sister and it was a lot easier to put her in the sling and carry her around the kitchen but for some reason I never remember to do that with you. I’ll try to do better with that and I hope that you’ll try to go to other people a little more willingly. Thanks, Tud.

I began weaning you two weeks ago. I just couldn’t take it anymore. You were biting me all the time and I was beginning to think that you weren’t getting enough milk to be satisfied but I was never really sure if it was that or just that you wanted to crawl all over me. More than both of those reasons though, I mostly wanted to quit nursing to see if it would help your sleep habits. Two weeks ago you would still wake up anywhere between 3 am and 4:45 am each morning and then sometimes one or two times after that. Since then you have certainly been better. For the last four nights in a row you have slept from 9 pm until 6 or 6:30 am and I am definitely pleased with that. I still nurse you whenever you wake up and I pump before going to bed so that you can at least get some breast milk, but that is dwindling fast so I think you’ll probably be on all formula here in the next two or three weeks. I’m trying not to have guilt about that despite the fact that you don’t seem to mind too much.

Last month you learned to crawl. You started crawling at about 7.5 months old. Before we went to the beach you would get up on all fours and go forward a “step” or two and then turn around and sit on your bottom and then do it all over again. You couldn’t quite figure it out. Sometimes you would push one leg out straight to the back and sometimes you would just rock or even push yourself backwards. But then by the time we got home from the beach you had gotten much more efficient and were finally getting around. As the month progressed you naturally got faster and now you are so fast that it’s hard to catch you. You will giggle and go when you see me coming after you. It’s actually a lot of fun!

You are also pulling up like a champ now, Josh. You immediately stand up at the end of your naps. You will have nothing of sitting on the floor next to someone and you must be climbing on them at all times. You can even climb our stairs quicker than I would ever think a baby should be able to. We only had one baby gate with Julianna and I’m hoping that will do with you as well, but I’m really not so sure about that. When I put you in your car seat now you protest with the greatest amount of strength and determination by twisting your body sideways and climbing out of it faster than I can blink an eye.

Now you are thisclose to walking. In fact, you’ve taken three steps at a time on your own on multiple occasions. I wouldn’t be surprised if I can officially say that you’re walking by the time I publish this letter tomorrow. You definitely have the desire and you are already brave enough to let go and try it on your own, it’s just that most of the time it’s easier to drop down on your bottom and take off. And we all like to take the easy way out sometimes so I don’t blame you.

We have an appointment tomorrow to see how the doctor thinks you’re doing. I’m certain that she’ll think you’re as perfect as I do, but I’m still eager to hear it. I’ll go ahead and apologize in advance for the shots that they’ll have to give you. You’ll be a trooper though. I know it.


Currently you are learning to wave “hey” and “bye-bye.” Nanna discovered that when she sings “Where Is Thumbkin?” you will flap your hand back and forth as if to look for your thumb to make it wiggle. You babble sometimes, though not as much as your sister did. How could anyone? Anyway, you will occasionally say “ma ma” or “da da.” You love to bend your knees and “dance” to music and we often find you staring up at the TV with your neck breaking off because you’re standing so close.

You have five teeth and will soon have the 6th. Of course, that helps with the eating thing and you can chew some pretty good stuff now even though most of the time you don’t want to. You’d never really guess this looking at your thighs.

You don’t really like vegetables unless its carrots or green beans but you do eat fruit.  I think your favorite food has got to be yogurt. You’ll eat any flavor and if the yogurt cup is on the table when you’re eating something else you will rock back and forth in your chair until I offer a bite of it. When you had your first taste of ice cream at Pap’s birthday party, you really weren’t impressed. I’m not worried; you’ll learn soon enough. I can’t believe we’ll be planning a birthday party for you soon!

Joshua, I know you won’t remember this when you’re older but I’ve been trying to exercise at least a little bit each day and you usually come with me. You’re my exercise boy. You ride in the bike trailer or between my legs on the bicycle seat and you are fascinated as you look at the world around you. When you ride in the jogging stroller you “talk” to the things we pass along the way. You get very enthusiastic when we see a dog. I hope that you’ll continue to be my exercise boy as you grow up because I’m learning to cherish the time with you. Especially since you still can’t ride your own bike. :)

Speaking of animals, I don’t know which you adore more, your sister or the cat. I imagine that once the cat gets a hold of you like he did your sister’s face one time that you’ll prefer Julianna, but we’ll see what happens. For now you love grabbing handfuls of cat fur as he walks by. And Simon loves that he’s finally getting a little attention.

So brother, happy nine month birthday. How quickly you’ve come to have lived outside of my womb for as long as you were inside it. I hope you like it here.

Love,

Mama