Neither Here Nor There

9 Months
August 27 - September 26

Happy ¾ birthday, Jack! It was another busy month for you full of new teeth, new skills, new tricks, new noises, some travelling, and even SLEEP! What?! I know…. I still can’t believe it either.

Here’s a look at what Jack was up to this month:

Long story short:

-Milestones: Cruising, standing holding on with only one hand, 4 teeth total, another round trip flight under his belt, pincer grips like a pro, babbles “ma,” “da,” “ba,” and “heh.”

-Likes: Still loves climbing the stairs, loves being tickled, dropping things off of his high chair for me to retrieve, music class, pulling my hair while basically holding me in a headlock, and he now actually enjoys swim lessons. Favorite toys include: his big stuffed bear, pillows, toilet paper, my keys, my old metal baby rattle, and his activity table. Jack has reached new volumes with his screaming, and his screams seriously hurt my ears sometimes. I swear, one of these days the neighbors are going to call the police.

-Dislikes: Having his diaper or clothes changed- still major drama here. Wiping his face and hands is also another battle for both of us. Jack is also in that fun stage where if you take something from his he fuh-reaks out and immediately begins to scream and fake cry. It’s absurd.

-Foods: Jack is pretty much over purees, and has moved on to mostly finger foods. And at least for now, he isn’t really all THAT messy of an eater. His favorite food this month seems to be broccoli and baby Mum Mums. Also, he LOVES water. He drinks out of his sippy cup on his own, and for some reason it cracks me up when he does so. He holds on with one hand, turns his head to the side and just throws it back like he’s chugging.

-Sizes: Diaper size 4, Clothing: some 9-12 month, moving into 18 month

-Sleep: I finally ripped the band-aid off and began sleep training at the end of this month. After 2 weeks, I saw major improvements! He is still waking up once a night, but I’m OK with that for now. Naps still need some work, too, but one thing at a time. It’s just amazing to be able to put him in his crib awake and have him fall asleep in 15 minutes or less! WAHOO!! How I survived nearly 9 months of such broken sleep is beyond me. Let’s not talk about it.

Long story (very) long:

36 Weeks (August 29 – September 4)

As much as it hurts my teacher heart, Jack hasn't really shown much interest in books. He's too busy for that, but I keep trying. So in an effort to force bibliophilia on him, this weekend we went to a Little Blue Truck Story Time at the bookstore. It was really cute. This week, Jack started cruising on the coffee table, and he has a new squinty eye, open mouth smile he does when he's really happy. I call it his “cheese smile.” Cutest thing ever! His word/sound of choice this week was "da da da da." Jack's great grandmother Helen passed away this week, so he and I flew out to Phoenix for her funeral and to spend some time with family. I'm so grateful he got to meet his great grandmother a few months ago.

Angel baby

Taking up the airplane seat all to himself while making me stand in the aisle

Swimming with Mimi

It doesn't get much more handsome than this

37 Weeks (September 5 – 11)

We were in Phoenix this week and really enjoyed our time there. Jack loves swimming in my parents' pool. It makes me wish we had a pool because he has so much fun and it wears him out! Needless to say, he slept really well in Phoenix! In good news, Jack seems to be losing interest in purées, so I've started giving him more finger foods which he's doing really well with. Jack's new trick this week is laughing after he or anyone else burp… or has any other bodily function. Boys...

This was a big week in Jack’s life in the mobility and sleep departments. He's cruising along furniture with ease, and he'll often even hold one with just one hand and then let go for a brief second while he reaches out to grab for me if I'm close enough. Some new tricks of his this week are: dropping things from his high chair and making me pick them up- on repeat until I get sick of it, blowing raspberries on my neck or arm, and climbing up on my back when I'm sitting on the floor and laughing when I turn around... A little like peek-a-boo I guess.

Big news in sleep this week- I finally broke down and started sleep training. I used the book The Happy Sleeper as my guide, and I actually just so happened to start the same night as two other girls in my mom group did, so we messaged throughout the days/nights and it was so great to have that support. Night 1, Jack cried an hour, night 2- 30 minutes, night 3-8 minutes, and since then it's been 15 minutes or less most night. He still wakes up once a night around 3 or 4, but I'll take it! This is such a huge improvement! It was so hard listening to him cry those first few nights, but he's made so much progress and I'm so proud. We are both a lot happier these days! Yay sleep!

Uncle Mark

Lola supervising bath time

Decided he liked a pacifier randomly. That lasted about 15 seconds.

38 weeks (September 12 – 18)

This was a big week in Jack’s life in the mobility and sleep departments. He's cruising along furniture with ease, and he'll often even hold one with just one hand and then let go for a brief second while he reaches out to grab for me if I'm close enough. Some new tricks of his this week are: dropping things from his high chair and making me pick them up- on repeat until I get sick of it, blowing raspberries on my neck or arm, and climbing up on my back when I'm sitting on the floor and laughing when I turn around... A little like peek-a-boo I guess.

Big news in sleep this week- I finally broke down and started sleep training. I used the book The Happy Sleeper as my guide, and I actually just so happened to start the same night as two other girls in my mom group did, so we messaged throughout the days/nights and it was so great to have that support. Night 1, Jack cried an hour,
night 2- 30 minutes, night 3-8 minutes, and since then it's been 15 minutes or less most night. He still wakes up once a night around 3 or 4, but I'll take it! This is such a huge improvement! It was so hard listening to him cry those first few nights, but he's made so much progress and I'm so proud. We are both a lot happier these days! Yay sleep!

1 Hour of crying... then finally asleep!

Asparagus. Nom!

This is what happens when you skip your nap

Baby's 1st eye exam

39 weeks (September 19 – 25)

Sleep training is still going well. The book says it takes a good 2 weeks to "work," but I've already seen huge progress. We had a couple nights this week where Jack cried for 30 minutes, and one night where he was up from 3-4L30 AM, but other than that it's been good! He seems to fall asleep in 15 minutes or less most nights, and he is still waking once each night for a feeding. I'm so proud of him (and me)! I think Jack was ready for this long before I was ready.

This week we had two visitors! One of my best friends from home came for a long weekend, and my cousin Lesley stayed with us during the week while she was in town for an interview. Jack loved having both visitors!

New tricks this week: fishy face, unraveling the TP rolls, and open mouth slobbery kisses. This week we started a baby sign language class, which I am so excited about. I can’t wait to for him to do his first sign! I think this will be so helpful as he tries to communicate with us in the future. Also new this week- Jack is oddly obsessed with and fixated on the alarm and thermostat panels. He crawls over to where they are and just stares at the little indicator lights. And he gets extra excited if I’m holding him while using either panel. Weirdo. This week Jack was promoted to a convertible car seat. He was looking pretty ridiculous in his infant seat, so this was a bit overdue. He looks like such a big kid now!

Jack had his 9 month well check the day before he turned 9 months. He is 21 pounds (83%) and 31 inches (99.9%)! Crazy to think that he has tripled his birth weight and grown 10 inches since he was born! He had a toe prick to check for anemia and lead (no problems with either), and he had to get the flu shot. He cried for both, but only briefly. He was pretty quickly distracted with obsessing over trying to remove the band aids.