Oh my little lovebug,
Mommy's been super slack in posting on your monthly birthdays so this one is going to include a lot of stuff that happened prior to your tenth month as well.
You are such a big boy now. At your nine month appointment you weighed 22 pounds and were 31 inches tall! You've been wearing 18 month clothing for a while now which is lots of fun for me because I've always loved dressing you as a boy and not a baby, so now I have many more choices for fun clothes for you.
You sit by yourself since you were eight months old. Sometimes you still topple over but usually only if you are tired. You aren't crawling yet but I'm in no hurry. Right now I can put you in the living room with a bunch of toys and leave to go to the bathroom or make dinner etc. and don't have to worry about you taking off somewhere.
However, this is not to say you aren't a mover. When you are sitting on the hardwood you scoot around in circles backwards on your butt. And on carpet you pull yourself forward in the same way. If I'm lying next to you on the floor you turn towards me and crawl all over me, giggling the whole time.
You laugh constantly and make other people laugh and smile as well. You have yet to develop any stranger anxiety. In fact your favorite thing is to ride around in your stroller or a shopping cart and engage people as they walk by, sometimes even grabbing them or their clothing to say hi.
Because I am a totally neurotic germophobe, I got you a clean shopper thing that fits inside shopping carts to you (and I for that matter) don't have to touch the cart handle that 100's of people who haven't washed their hands after using the bathroom have already touched in a day. You like it because it pads the seat and has toys attached that you can play with. This doesn't keep you from pulling things off shelves if we pass by too closely. You are quick and strong. So now I've learned to give you something non-breakable first thing so that you can play with it and explore it while I'm doing the rest of the shopping. So far this tactic works like a charm.
You've become the good little world traveler. We've been to Florida for two weeks to visit Grandma and Poppa, to England for your Nona's wedding, and to DC for the family reunion. In August we fly to Vegas for a weekend for Aunt Kim's wedding and the hour and a half flight is going to seem so SHORT compared to all our other trips.
You only cry now when you are tired and fighting sleep. There were many tears, yours and mine when we moved into our new place because we were working on eliminating your night feedings and getting you to learn to go to sleep by yourself. Some nights I could handle your sad cries. Others I still can't. I don't know if my heart will ever not break when you cry or my arms not ache to comfort you. Sometimes your father has to hold me back from going into your room. Most of the time now you do nothing more than fuss for a brief time before drifting off. Sometimes though you scream and that's when we go in to comfort you and help you soothe yourself to sleep.
The first night of your "sleep training" you cried for 45 minutes until you finally fell asleep. I felt like the worst mother in the world. Letting her child cry to exhaustion. It felt wrong and un-natural and painful, even though I was in the room with you the whole time soothing you with pats and a soft voice. But the next morning when you woke you were so happy and smiley and I felt like you weren't going to hold it against me and that I hadn't scarred you for life.
Now you go to bed every night between 7 and 7:30 after stories and nursing and sometimes you cry and sometimes you don't. But you sleep solid (unless you are teething or sick) until 5 and then your father comforts you on and off until 6 when I get up to nurse you and start the day. Mind you, you don't cry for a solid hour, just fuss and doze and fuss and doze. We'd LOVE IT if you would sleep till 7 but we count ourselves VERY LUCKY that you are such a good sleeper as it is.
You nap two hours after you get up and usually it's between and hour and an hour and a half. Then you get up happy and ready to go and that's when you and I hit the town. It doesn't matter where we go, you are always happy to serenade me from the carseat and laugh and giggle at your own private jokes.
You talk to us all the time now, we just haven't learned your language yet but you are patient with us. Mama and dada are frequently said words but I don't think you are saying them discriminately yet. I'm still signing to you and I know that you will surprise me one day and sign back.
You charm everyone around you and I love spending my days with you. We still get together with our friends each week and that is also a joy. You boys love playing together, even if you are all rougher and tougher now. So far no one has minded sharing toys or getting whacked on the head with them either.
I can't believe you are going to be a year old soon. Time has gone by so quickly. You will be having a little party on your birthday and Grandma and Poppa will be here to help us celebrate which is really exciting.
Little man, you are my angel, my love and my light. You make each day exciting and new and I love you so.
Mommy
