Nine Months Old

Dear Will,

Oh my gosh. This is so overdue. Upon this writing, you are nearly 10 months old. The primary reason for the delay: You. Are. So. Busy.

You can no longer be bothered to sit still. You are everywhere all the time, and you're not even really crawling yet! You have a pretty effective "army crawl" that will get you just about anywhere you need to be. You throw one arm and shoulder forward and push ahead with the opposite knee. You move pretty quickly already, so I can't imagine how I'll keep up with you when you figure out that you can move on your hands and knees.

In addition to (sort-of) crawling, you love to jump. You literally jump all day long. On Mama's lap, on the floor, in your exersaucer, in the jumper, wherever. If there's any sort of lull in activity, you fill that space with jumping. You love it. Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump.

You're eating a more balanced rainbow of colors now. New favorites for this month include beets and blueberries. But your tried and true favorites of bananas, pumpkin, squash, pears, apples, carrots, mangoes and spinach still persist. We introduced yogurt this month, which you also adore. You will eat an entire carton in one sitting and would easily eat more. You also enjoy your puffs and are getting quite good at feeding yourself. In fact, I think it's about time we introduce some additional finger foods.

You continue to love music. We sing and listen to music all day long. Miss Patricia's CD is among your favorites. We constantly have it playing in the car. Our music class at Lawrence University is always one of the highlights of our week. You love to see your little friends and play with the instruments Miss Patricia brings.

You stand quite well while holding on to things now, and you're just beginning to pull yourself up on furniture. Sometimes you have trouble gripping edges, but if we put our fingers where you need to grasp, you manage to hold on tight enough to pull yourself up. Sometimes your leg gets stuck underneath you and you can't quite figure out how to get up. But when you succeed, you are so proud of yourself. And we're so proud of you too.

Somewhere in the last month you morphed into an exceptional napper. Naps have never been your strong suit. Even when you started sleeping through the night, you only managed to take two 30 minute naps a day. But lately, I can count on you to nap for an hour or two straight. I don't even know what to do with all that free time!

This marks month three in your helmet. You're doing great in it, and we're seeing really good progress. We're nearing the end of treatment, which we're all really excited for. I can't wait to be able to kiss your sweet little baby head whenever I want.

You continue to light up my life. I love you so much.

Love,

Mama