9 month un-update

Poor baby J doesn't get a 9-month birthday. There is no February 30, so sometime this week he will just magically morph into a 9-month old. I guess you call days that are not your birthday "un-birthdays." So today we celebrate Jonathan's unbirthday and give you an unupdate. Just go with it.

physical
Any of you that read the teething post on Monday already know about our major physical change this month: four more little teeth have emerged. Actually three more. This last one is a DOOZY and has barely broken through yet. Also, he's about grown out of his 9-month clothes that he has been wearing for the past 3 months. Bummer. I am going to look for some spring yard sales to stock up on bigger clothes!

Cool dude

eating
We are giving him more grown-up foods here and there. He ate a pancake the other day. I gave him an egg yolk (not his favorite). AND we are seeing no more evidence of dairy sensitivity so we are going to try some yogurt maybe next week. {More importantly, that means..... a Dairy Queen Blizzard is in my future! And maybe also some muenster cheese. Oooh and Double Stuff Oreos dunked in REAL milk. So apparently I have been dreaming in dairy that past few months.} I still don't really know how much breastmilk he consumes during a day, but apparently it is enough. As I say every month, I had a week that I was worried about my supply (Jonathan became part piggy for several days and we got down to only THREE bags of milk left in the freezer). I started pumping on my days off and now we are back to normal.

Rockin the prune-stache

The final note about eating is that poor Jonathan gets really constipated so we are trying to figure out the best balance of fiber-y solids for him. I've been sprinkling oat bran on his baby foods. And we are looking into making some of our own food so that we can feed him some more bulk in the form of fruits and veggies. I will definitely be doing a post about all this soon, once we get some things figured out (starting solids AND constipation of course).

sleep
We thought for a few days he was showing signs of not needing his morning nap. But we were wrong. Still two naps per day (to the relief of his parents). Nights are still pretty much the same except for when this pesky tooth keeps him awake. He generally wakes once for a feeding, and sometimes another time in the early morning hours. Jon and I have been talking about doing some cry-it-out once this tooth pops through. I think we are almost ready... sigh...

He also has been wanting to be put down in his crib before he actually falls asleep. Usually we nurse to sleep at night, but he has been making it clear when he is tired and does NOT want to nurse. I feel like I sigh in relief whenever he shows us he's ready for something different; anything that cuts out the guesswork of mommying is welcome. I am honestly not sure how we will ever wean him from his swaddle. We didn't make huge efforts to do it when he was younger, and now he's just so used to it. I wonder if that will be another thing that all of a sudden he just doesn't want anymore. I don't know why I feel like it's a big deal that my 9-month-old is still swaddled for sleep when it really doesn't matter at all. Just one of my things, I guess.

This has nothing to do with sleep, but this picture is so cute I had to include it.
Jonathan got to have some long playdates this week since our friend Anna's babysitter had a family emergency.
Obviously they are in love. 

development
Ok this is the fun stuff! He is learning so many sounds. No official words yet, but if you saw one of our recent posts, I mentioned that "Mama" and "Dada" do mean specific things, they just don't refer to Jon or myself. He loves when we mimic sounds back and forth. He definitely knows his name, and will turn to us whenever we say it. He also will follow a command when he wants to. I can say "Don't drop it," when he is dangling a toy over his high chair tray, and if he's in the mood, he will move it back onto the tray.

When he feels like it, Jonathan will do a tip-on-command. 

Afterwards, he likes to talk about how proud of himself he is. 

On the motor skill front, he is a rolling champ and will get from one end of the room to another pretty easily. He looks like he is thinking about crawling, but no actual progress there. When he's on his tummy he gets distracted by things on the carpet so he can't also think about getting his butt up in the air. Speaking of things on the carpet, this is that stage. The one where parents describe their babies as floor cleaners. His pincer grasp is very developed and he enjoys trying to pick up my freckles. Trying to grasp my collar bone will also entertain him for several minutes. The best part of his fine motor skill development is PAGE TURNING. He loves loves loves turning pages. It is so cute, but has made for some very fast story-reading. He also is starting to love rolling a ball back and forth and playing peekaboo!

One of Jonathan's favorite pasttimes is choosing two toys to bang together.
It's pretty fun. You should try it. 

personality
Another thing I say in every post: this is one silly boy. He really likes when we do silly things, and it seems that he starts acting silly himself when he wants us to be silly back. He loves when we jump out of a doorway to scare him. Overall, he is still pretty patient and easy-going, but is also learning that he can yell real loud if he wants something to go his way. Distraction still works great when he's doing something he shouldn't. I have noticed a bit of stranger anxiety these past couple weeks, which I thought would maybe not ever come up for our people-loving boy. It has only been when we are in a store or something and it is really a stranger. Oh and we found out one thing that will consistently scare him: blowing your nose! Ha! I shouldn't laugh I know but it is really funny how our sweet, mostly-unphasable boy will erupt into heaving sobs if someone sniffs in a quiet room. Poor thing!

Jonathan loves playing with people's lips. Watch out if you come in our house: your lips will be targeted. We were relieved yesterday when he started to make these sounds using his own lips. Perhaps ours will get a break. 

mama time
It is really cool that Jonathan can interact and communicate with us more.  No longer does he just need 3 things (milk, sleep, poop) to make him happy. He is more complex now, and that brings a more complex side of parenting. This month I have loved that not only is he trying to communicate with me, but he also understands what we say. Remember in Mr. Holland's Opus when the mom throws a tantrum to the tune of "I can't tell him who I am. I can't tell him that I love him. I WANT TO TALK TO MY SON!" Well, I never really got it, but now I do. It means so much to see that he knows who I am. That he knows I love him. That I can tell him things and teach him things and he responds.

Just this morning, he wanted to grab his juice cup while he was drinking but I said, "No, you can't hold it while I let you drink it," and seriously he did not touch it again. When we were reading books after breakfast I said, "Wait," when he was wanting to turn the page ahead of time, and he waited. Then I said, "Turn the page," when it was time, and he turned the page. This.is.awesome.

Along with Jonathan understanding me more comes more responsibility. A good friend was sharing how she worries sometimes about how her own issues will affect her little girl. That reality is becoming more present to me. Being a mommy to Jonathan is making me, no forcing me, to be more authentic and honest, to know what I believe and the reasons for believing it, and to check my petty frustrations at the door. I don't want my kids to grow up with a mommy who is hypocritical, judgmental, impatient. I don't want my kids to think they should compare themselves to others because I have an issue with comparing. Shoot, I know I will always be a far cry from perfect, but I welcome these challenges as opportunities to see myself, see my stuff, and grow from it.

Once again, little man, I learn so much from YOU! You force me to cut the crap. You are not allowed to say crap. You free me up to be more me. I love you and I delight in you and I ENJOY your company. Daddy and I loved every minute of knowing you in my belly, and now we have known you even longer face-to-face! You light up our lives, little bundle-of-love. Happy 9-months-ish Birthday!