Some Small Growth Chart Moments

Here are just a few things Jack is doing at 9 1/2 months.

• He has learned how to point.  He points at something specific that he may want or just think is neat, but he also points just to see his fingers point.  He'll study his fingers, marveling at the new contortions they're doing. 
• Jack is standing by himself now.  At first, he didn't realize he was doing it. He would switch a toy from one hand to the other, while standing, and not fall on his rump.  I even 'fought' him over putting on a jacket one time, the whole time he was standing without holding on to anything.  Now, I think he tests it out every so often to see how long he can keep his balance.  He does a great job!  My prediction was that he will be walking at the end of his 9th month.  We'll see!
•  His crawling is getting better and better because of his new sense of balance and strength.  He can crawl right over me (I call it climbing over Mt. Mommy) and through the bottom rungs of the kitchen chairs.  He also loves to crawl in and out of his big Fisher Price toy.  I think he'll be the boy who builds forts to climb into.  
• He loves to play the throwing game.  He will throw a toy off of his highchair endlessly!  When Daddy is holding him, he'll throw the toy (or spoon, vitamin bottle, or shoe...) down, and Daddy will lower him to the toy to grab it.  This game goes on until Daddy can no longer bend over.  Jack LOVES it.
• And as I mentioned in my last post, he's becoming quite the talker.  It's so adorable to hear him talk to his toys, mimic sounds from a toy, and talk to us as if asking us in depth questions.  Or maybe he's telling us something important at the time.  We just don't know . 

I am really looking forward to the holidays when we'll get to see all of our family.  My prediction will be that he'll be running around, trying to keep up with his many cousins come Christmastime.  We'll see!

Getting Up To Speed

It's been a while since I've mentioned any Growth Chart Moments, though they're happening almost every day around here now.  I'm going to try to remember all of them, and get you up to speed on Jack's accomplishments. They are in order as best as I can remember.

He can now walk (assisted with our fingers) with shoes on.  He had a good solid month of walking like this barefoot, but with winter coming up, I wanted to get him used to having shoes on his feet.  He had to learn how to walk all over again the first time I put shoes on him.  But now he's back to normal, cruising and walking all the time.  Baby shoes are adorable!!!

He is now 'crawl running.'  When he sees what he wants (like the doorstop that makes LOUD noises when hit), he crawls really fast towards it.  I call it crawl running.

Bath time is now in the big tub!  We went from the baby tub on the kitchen counter, to the baby tub in the big tub, now to just being in the big tub.  He loves it.  He scoots around on his little bottom, and sometimes even tries to crawl around. 

We decided it was time to get a convertible car seat.  A friend of ours gave us her old front-facing car seat for him to use, but we don't think he's old enough to be front facing yet.  His infant seat only goes to 22lbs, and I'm pretty sure he's over 20lbs now, so we had to get something soon.  Craigslist is a wonderful thing!! 

His top teeth are coming in.  One has been there for a few weeks now, but the other one is still trying to come through.   It has wreaked havoc on nursing!  Without going into detail, I'm going to take a little break from it for a few days.  If any of you have advice or encouragement, I'll take it!!!  This is painful stuff!!

Jack finally tried to climb our stairs this past week.  And he did it on the first try!  I turned around to see him on the first step.  What did I do? I ran to get the camera of course!  And then I kept my hand behind his bottom and encouraged him to go up further.  He made it about half way before he fell and decided it wasn't for him. He hasn't tried it since.

As of yesterday, he understands what "I'm gonna get you" means.  It's so cute to hear him squeal with delight and anticipation when you say those words to him.  He crawl-runs away as fast as his little knees can take him!  It's so fun! He has yet to figure out what "come and get me" means.

Today, Jack clapped for the first time.  All it took was taking him to the PBR Rodeo!  He was sitting on Daddy's lap, and all of a sudden he just started clapping.  Every time he did it, we encouraged him.  Tonight at dinner, he clapped between every bite of chicken.  Yay for meat!

Whew! That is a lot of Growth Chart Moments!!!  I can't believe how much growing he has done in his short 9 months.  (He will be 9 months on the 14th.)  That's about how long I had him inside of me.  It amazed me how much growing he did in that short time while he was in my womb, and now it has amazed me how much growing he's done in our home.  What a little guy.  We love him so much!!

I Was Not Expecting This

We had a big day of Growth Chart Moments! And, like always, I wasn't expecting any of them.

The first moment happened after his morning nap. I was listening to the monitor while reading my blogs, waiting for him to wake up from his nap. Recently, he has been very pleasant after his morning nap, not screaming for me to get him as is his tradition after his afternoon nap. I've begun letting him have a little alone time in his crib when he wakes up from his morning naps. It's so adorable to hear him babble to the animals on the wall. After a while, I go in and get him, and it never fails - he cries as soon as I see him. Today, I was bracing myself to see him change from babbling happily to realizing his plight in the world (being in a crib, away from Mommy and his toys). What I found when I opened the door was my little baby boy STANDING there waiting for me! Now, I knew this would happen eventually, but I was not expecting this yet! He didn't cry this time. He just gave me a big grin. *We lowered his crib to the lowest setting tonight.

After his nap, we headed to the grocery store to do our weekly grocery shopping. (I even go through the same lane each time, and the woman is finally recognizing us. She thinks Jack is the cutest baby ever. Do you think she's just saying that?) As we were going down the baking aisle, I did something to make Jack laugh out loud. This was when I noticed a third tooth! I was not expecting this. His bottom two came in almost 2 months ago, and I'd been waiting and watching for the next ones to come in ever since. The thing is, I've been watching the top gums! I didn't even think the next one to come in would be another bottom one. I think it's been up for at least a week.

Recently, Jack's army crawl is getting pretty fast. I can tell he wants to crawl like a 'big-boy', but he just can't figure it out yet. He'll get up on all fours, but then as he starts going forward, he falls down to his belly. This evening, however, for about three 'steps', he crawled on all fours! I wasn't expecting this, because it was getting later in the evening, and he was getting pretty tired. (Which means he was pretty cranky and unable to keep from falling a lot). He is still mostly army crawling for now, but as of tonight, he has actually crawled 'big-boy' style.

Our little Buddy Boozle is getting so big! This 7th month has been a huge Growth Chart month. He sleeps better, cries a little less, eats a ton more, army crawls whenever and wherever he wants, pulls himself up on furniture and toys, and cruises around everything. I'm in the throes of "they grow so fast!"

A Few Missed Moments

***This is my first time ever linking to any blog carnival. This is a learning process for me. To my friends and family who do not know what a blog carnival is, just check out the link and you'll see at the end of that post, a lot of links. Those are other bloggers who are sharing their stories in the same way.

Last week I did NOT turn around and say out loud, “How did you get over there?” to my 7 month old son who just learned how to army crawl. Nope, not me! I was NOT reading through my list of blogs while he was making his longest distance yet with this new army crawl. It seems I may need to schedule a different time to check up on my blogs, and I may need to start baby-proofing a little better.

I did NOT ask my husband, “Did he just cruise around that big toy by himself?” and miss yet another Growth Chart Moment. This time I was not on my computer, but I was texting a friend at the time. I see a trend, do you?

I did NOT almost cry when the internet went out after a lightning bolt struck our house (not really, but it was REALLY close!) and the technician on the phone said it’d be THREE DAYS before someone could come out. I don’t know how to survive without the internet anymore. My husband said “we’ll have to go back to how we used to do things.” I gently reminded him that we didn’t used to share photos and videos of our son online.

My son does NOT scream his head off when we leave him alone with anyone for any amount of time right now. My sister did NOT have to drive him to the park, sit with him, and drive him back to meet me after my dentist appointment all while Jack cried the ENTIRE time.

My husband did NOT take me to the Newport Aquarium in KY for our anniversary last week. We decided it was going to have to be a family anniversary day, since Jack is so little, and we can’t leave him with anyone for any amount of time right now. Jack did NOT cry all the way home. I guess he was sick of being in the car.

And finally, I really did not start a new school year with a new set of students in my newly set up classroom. And because that really didn’t happen, I felt a little sad. It’s been 27 years of gearing up for school to start in August. This year I am staying home with my son. I’m not sure anyone really understands this sadness. I hear a lot of “I wish it were me!” But for me, being a teacher, and being in a classroom with students was where I belonged. I had a place to fit in. I knew my place in the world. Now, as a stay-at-home-mom, I feel like I’m floating in the world without a place to belong. I no longer have a set of friends just down the hall. Though I’m looking forward to the joys of raising my son, I still feel a little sadness about leaving my now ‘past life’ behind.

It's Official

I think I can now say that Jack is crawling. It's more like an army crawl right now, and he doesn't get very far very fast, but he does get to where he wants to go now! He's not aware that he can army crawl yet. When he sees something he wants, he bounces and leans forward, but doesn't want to fall to his belly yet. He hasn't caught on that if he falls to his belly, he will then be able to crawl to the desired toy. I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

The onset of my son crawling means I'm going to start crawling too - to baby proof the house. Although I could do it the lazy-mom's way. When he gets into something he's not supposed to get into, I'll know I have to move it up. Until then, everything stays as-is. I'm currently trying to do SOME baby proofing. We'll see how well I can look at my home with fresh, baby eyes.

Don't go, Daddy!!!

We all know how babies love their Mamas. Mine certainly can't survive with out me. When he's tired or hungry, he only has eyes for me. This can make a mom feel really good, but it can also be very tiring. Hubby really wants to help, but Jack calls the shots, and when he wants Mama, he wants Mama!

Bright and early this morning, while Jack and I were sitting in the glider in his nursery-me hoping he was going to go back to sleep and him chomping happily on a teething ring-Daddy came in to say goodbye to his family. He kisses me goodbye, and, after seeing the squeals of delight upon his entry to the room, he picks up Jack and hugs and kisses him goodbye.

What happened next broke both of our hearts. Melted them anyway.

When Hubby put him back in my lap, he cried. He didn't just wail, he started out with a tiny whimper. It was like he was saying "you aren't going away, are you, Daddy?" As he watched his daddy leave the room, he started into a real cry. When Daddy came back in, because who can leave when their baby is looking at them with a "don't leave, Daddy!" look, he settled right down. He even squealed and kicked his legs when he was in his daddy's arms again.

I know it broke Daddy's heart to leave his baby boy today. He never likes to leave, but this made it extra hard I'm sure.

This boy loves his daddy!

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We're coming up to the start of baby-proofing the house. It seems that Jack is starting to roll with a purpose. He can also get to what he wants, or at least closer to what he wants, by using his face in a sort of army-crawl. We caught him rocking back and forth while sitting on his bottom and leaning on his hands. I've heard that's a precursor to crawling. Our days are numbered!