Nine Months

My sweet Winston is nine months old. He weighs 22 lbs 4.5 oz (90th percentile) and is 29.5 inches long (94th percentile). He can wave hello, sign for “milk,” give kisses on request, and scoot around wherever he wants to go. 

He can crawl, but still prefers to get around on his belly, which he can do much quicker. He will do a proper crawl for a few paces, then drop his belly and scoot the rest of the way. He is totally mobile now, but is still quite happy to sit on the playmat and explore toys. He isn’t into everything yet, which makes my job a bit easier, but that could change any day. He has figured out how fun it is to pull the books off of the bookshelves though. 

He is a very observant boy and loves to stare intently at strangers, which gets him a lot of smiles and hellos, which he meets with even more intent stares. I can’t remember if staring is a normal baby trait, but people comment on the directness of his stare a lot (including his doctor), so it seems worth it to mention it. 

He loves eating and his favorite food is anything bread based, including homemade pizza crust, peas, black beans, and pears. He almost always feeds himself, unless I’m eating oatmeal or yogurt, in which case I give him little bites off of my spoon (which I can never manage to do fast enough, in his opinion).

He is really sweet and happy all the time. He can be a bit clingy and prefers to be worn or carried most of the time (and hates when any member of his family walks out of his sight), but other than the only time he fusses at all is if he is tired. When he was a newborn my mom called him Win Poppins because he was such an easy baby that he was practically perfect in anyway. I’d say he’s just about back to Win Poppins status these days. At this phase, he is very easy to look after and simply delightful to be around, with his big gapped-tooth smile and sparkly blue eyes. 

He loves to swing on the swings at the park and always laughs when he watches his sister run around. He favors the toys he knows she likes the most, her Elsa doll with its fascinating blond hair and her baby dolls with their chewable hands and feet, but he is also developing that typical little boy fondness for everything with wheels. He loves to sit and push the doll stroller back and forth, and will roll a little tractor toy from our farm set around the wood floor and scoot along after it. He also loves our bead maze cube with it’s spinning blocks and beads and doors to open and shut.

Nine months is always a bit of a bittersweet milestone, I think. Nine months in, versus nine months out. These first nine months of his life have seemed to go by so fast for me. Instead of thinking back though, I find myself thinking forward to what life will be like in another nine months when he is a year and  a half. He will be playing at the park, trying to keep up with his sister, and probably starting to really talk. He will be a full fledged toddler, throwing unintelligible tantrums and telling me “no!” at every turn. There is so much to look forward to, but there is so little of his babyhood left now. Just a few short months. I’m going to do my best to savor them, because the last two nine month intervals of my life have passed at breakneck speed. I don’t want to blink, because I know if I do then my little baby scooting hilariously across the floor on his belly will be toddling into my arms, then if I blink again he will be running away from me with a defiant chuckle, and if I blink a third time he will heading off to school.

Say little Win, for just a bit longer.

35 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks

38 weeks

39 weeks

Eight Months

Win now has six teeth (four on the top, two on the bottom). He is very close to crawling, but isn't quite there yet. He can get up on his hands and knees into the right position, and will rock back and forth, but hasn't figured out how to move forward. Sometimes it really upsets him. I know it will make my life more difficult once he is mobile, but I'm rooting for him because I can see he wants to do it so badly. There are so many places that he wants to go! Like, to the other side of the playmat, or across the living room floor. There are so many toys scattered around by his big sister, placed just out of reach. It’s a frustrating existence for a curious baby.

I was thinking the other day about how Win doesn’t have too many nicknames. When Eleanor was a baby, the list of her nicknames was a mile long, but we mostly just call Win by his name, or refer to him as “brother.” There is one nickname that Eleanor coined that has really stuck though, “Brud,” short for “brudder.” It isn’t the most graceful sounding moniker, but it’s pretty cute. We love our little Brud. 

At 8 months old Win loves:

• His daddy
• Pulling his sister’s hair
• Getting ahold of her Magiclip dolls 
• Blowing raspberries 
• Biting with those new teeth of his
• The novelty of exploring new toys (as well as new “toys” like spatulas and slotted spoons and empty cardboard boxes)
• Giving big, sloppy, open-mouthed baby kisses 

31 weeks

32 weeks

33 weeks

34 weeks

Seven Months

Since writing the last monthly update, Win has started grown two more teeth, bringing his total up to three, the two bottom front teeth, and the top left front tooth, which is just barely poking through. He has fully mastered the art of sitting up unassisted, and loves to sit on our playmat at explore his (and Eleanor's) toys. 

Baby-led weaning has been going great. Win got the hang of things so quickly, and now he handles food with little difficulty and is always excited when meal time comes around. It’s fun watching his preferences develop. He is crazy about carbs. If there is bread or pasta on his tray, he is definitely going to go for that first, followed by red things, especially strawberries and watermelon. It’s always hard to tell how much food is actually being ingested with baby-led weaning, but I think he manages to eat almost half of whatever he is given, which is pretty incredible. He gets very upset if anyone eats around him without sharing, and you should hear how he screeches if he runs out of food on his tray! Recently he was eating some avocado, and he liked it so much that after he had eaten all of the wedge I had given him, he proceeded to bend down and lick the remaining avocado that had been smeared on his tray. He seriously loves food! And you can see it in those massive thighs! 

Win is the definition of a bouncing baby boy. He is so wiggly and active, it’s hard to keep a hold of him sometimes. He’s always babbling and flailing his limbs around and grabbing at absolutely everything. He loves to hang upside down and his always arching his back to flip himself over. He has started really babbling, adding lots of different tones and consonant sounds to his repertoire. The race is on to see if we can get him to say "Mama" or "Dada" first. Seriously, Win, who wakes up with you at night? It needs to be "Mama." 

Separation anxiety has officially set in, and Win usually gets instantly upset if he sees me move out of view. He has the most high pitched, hysterical, dramatic cry! You'd think the entire world was ending the way he hams it up when I put him down for a few seconds to run to the bathroom. This phase makes me very glad for quality baby carriers.

27 Weeks

28 Weeks

29 Weeks

30 Weeks

Six Months

Just the other day Eleanor asked me, “Mom, are babies forever?” and I had to tell her, with much genuine sadness in my voice, “No, babies aren’t forever. They always grow up.” I wish this one didn’t have to, but he's growing up all the same, and is somehow already six months old.

So what is Win like as a six month old? He is very sociable and friendly. He loves making eye contact. Often if he is fussy all anyone has to do is just lock eyes with him for a moment. He is obsessed with faces. All babies are interested in faces of course, but he will stare and stare at faces. When I read to him and Eleanor, he prefers to turn around and watch my face rather than look at the pictures. He loves to touch and grab faces too. When Andrew comes home from work and picks Win up, the first thing he always does is reach out and put little hand on his cheek. He is super smiley. He is always giving these big, gummy smiles, with his head cocked to one side and his tongue at the roof of his mouth. He gets a bit more serious around strangers, he will stare at them critically for a while, but then usually cracks a smile. 

He is a big boy, just every so slightly under 20 lbs, 27.5 inches long, pushing the limits of 9 month sized clothes. I had to squeeze him into these cute overalls (which are 6 month sized) to take these photos. They were the first item of baby boy clothes that I bought after I found out I had a little boy on the way, and I always imagined dressing him up in them for his six month photos. They really don’t fit him anymore, but I had to do it.

He can sit supported by a boppy pillow very well, and can manage the tripod sit for a few moments. He has great hand coordination, and if he gets a hold of a toy, he almost never drops it. He seems to love having things in his hands to play with and chew on, so we have various baby toys scattered all over the house for him. We started Baby Led Weaning in earnest a few days ago. I have no idea how much he is actually swallowing, but he loves the chance to play around with food. Even after just a few days, I can see him learning. At first he would take hold of a piece of food and suck and suck and suck on it, but now he has started mashing it with his gums and managing to break off little bites (that mostly get spit out). 

On Saturday his first little tooth broke through (the bottom right incisor), but it seems to be taking its sweet time pushing up. It’s still just barely there, where I can feel it with my finger but can’t really see it. I’m anxious to see what his smile will look like when it is fully of white baby teeth.

I don’t know what it is, but all of a sudden he seems to look so much more grown up to ne. The way his face has matured in even just the last month is really dramatic. Win has always been a cute baby (in my biased opinion), but lately he has hit this level of cuteness that is just unbearable. I can’t even look at him without saying at loud, “Win! You are just too cute!” Of course it doesn’t hurt that he is almost always smiling at me. But seriously, his cuteness quotient is off the charts, with his perfect little button nose, his giant chubby thighs, his bright blue eyes, and his ridiculously long eyelashes that curl all the way up to his eyebrows. I can’t get enough of him. 

He still loves bath time, being naked, bouncing in his jumperoo, and playing with his big sister more than anything. He is almost always happy (unless he is in the car, which is still a bit of a challenge). His disposition is as sweet as honey. 

22 Weeks

23 Weeks

24 Weeks

25 Weeks

26 Weeks - One Half of a Year

Five Months

My sweet baby boy is 5 months old today, and it’s hitting me hard. Isn’t 6 months supposed to be the big, emotional one? 6 months is half of a year, but there is something that strikes me about 5 months as well. It feels like the transition from little baby to big baby. At 4 months he was still practically a newborn, right? And now, he’s 5 months, which is almost 6 months, and everyone knows that 6 months is almost 12 months, and 12 months is almost 12 years, and basically my point here is that he will be grown up before I know it. But I shouldn’t be getting ahead of myself. For now, he is just 5 months, and that’s still pretty little.

At 5 months old, Win is friendly, social, and smiley. He loves to play with toys, anything soft that he can chew on and smash into his face. And don’t you dare take his toys away, because he will cry so hard and bitterly until he has them back in his little fists. He isn’t sitting up unassisted yet, but he started sitting up the second I strapped him into his bouncy seat, so we had to switch it out for this floor seat that allows him to be upright. He has rolled over once, but isn't doing that consistently yet. He loves bouncing in his jumperoo and his happy in there for long stretches of time (seriously, yesterday he hung out in it with a huge smile on his face for 45 minutes, which is basically forever in baby time). He is very cuddly and hugable and always laughs when you kiss his neck. I’m so glad he is mine.

Tomorrow Win takes his second flight. We'll be in Phoenix for the week. We're looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family!

Here are some photos from the last few weeks (his 4 month photos were taken on the same day I usually do his weekly photos, so I counted those as his 17 week photos too):

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks