Nine Months

Dear Cooper,

You are NINE months old today! Nine?! Where is my little squishy baby? I certainly haven’t seen him lately. All I’ve seen is a big boy who is on the move and getting bigger every day.

This month you’ve been doing big things. For one, you have “officially” learned to army crawl. I think you’ve known how to do this for a while, but you just never were that interested in it. Boy has that changed! One day a couple of weeks ago, I got a series of texts from Poppa. It went something like this:

“Cooper is on the move”

“Going to need the baby gates”

“He just tipped over Maggie’s water bowl, all wet and no extra clothes”

He sent all of that in about 3 minutes. Haha, I think he was a little overwhelmed at your newest milestone. The second you are set on the floor, you tip yourself forward and off you go! Your favorite things to go for are: the dogs’ food and water bowls, any of the dogs’ toys (especially Zoe’s beloved yellow ball), and power cords. Ahh yes, you are certainly keeping us on our toes, Buddy.

Just this week, you have really started taking off walking when we hold your hands. I mean, you take.off! You love it! I'm curious to see how soon you will be confident enough to try it on your own.

You also said your first word; “dada”. And of course you said it the ONE Saturday that your dad and I were out of town! And of course we did not hear it from you for about a week afterwards! You did say it a couple of times last night. Clearly, you have no idea who Dada is, but it’s still so fun to hear you say it!

Another activity you love to do is huff and puff and flap your arms up and down like a bird while sitting. It is hilarious! Poppa calls it your “sitting jumping jacks” and you do this all the time.

You learned how to play peek-a-boo in about 5 minutes, and you LOVE it! You even put the blanket over your own face and laugh and squeal while we say “where’s Cooper?” and then you pull it off, it’s probably my favorite thing to do with you, you just laugh SO much!

{okay, I never warn you about my mom voice, but it is SO bad in this video, so fair warning :) }

One thing that you do NOT love to do it lay on your changing table. Good grief. This used to be your favorite place ever, what happened?! It’s nearly impossible to change your diaper without an assistant. Your clothes? Forget about it! I dress you on your floor, because that struggle is just not worth it. The second we lay you down you whine and flip over, then try to shimmy off the table! I’ve learned a couple of things that sometimes work to keep you occupied. I’m going to need to learn some more soon!

I also think that it’s about time for your first haircut. It is getting so long over your ears, and the little mullet in back that I have trimmed before has come back with a venagnce! Your hair is also getting thicker, not as fuzzy and fluffy as it was when you were born.

You are still sleeping from 5:30/6 pm to 5/6 am. Lately you’ve been staying up until 6 a little more, and we love that extra little time with you! I’m curious to see what you do when we jump forward an hour this weekend. That would be so nice if you went to bed at 7 and woke up at 6! Haha, I never thought that I would consider 6 am sleeping in. You’ve woken up crying during the night several times a week the past couple of weeks, and every time, I swearthat you’re getting a tooth, but still nothing! I’m just going to give up on blaming things on teething with you, I know your Daddy would appreciate that J I think you’re starting to phase out your noon nap. You skip it several times a week and just take a morning and an afternoon nap. I would love to get rid of that noon nap, just so that we can run errands a little more during the day. We’ll see what you decide this month.

You still take 3 7oz. bottles and have 3 meals per day. You are still eating purees, but I think that we are, perhaps, going to venture into finger foods sometime soon. I know that you can have them, but I do get a little nervous, so we’ll discuss it with your pediatrician tomorrow. You tried pureed blueberries for the first time last night and you loved them! You kept opening your mouth for more J I also gave you a bite of my banana, and you did notlike that, even though you love the pureed banana.

At your nine month check up, your stats were:

Length: 29.25 inches (81%)

Weight: 20lb 8oz (51%)

Head: 45 cm (42%)

You are wearing 6-12 month clothes, but many of your 6-12 month pants are very short on you! You’re still wearing a size 3 shoe. You wear a size 3 diaper, but we just started putting you in a 4 overnight.

I am so thankful that you are still such a little love bug. You always give me the tightest hugs whenever I pick you up. You squeeze your arms around my neck so tight! That is one of my favorite things you do!

I can’t believe how fast you are growing up, Buddy! I hate to lose my little baby, but I do love watching you learn new things. Right now, I'm just trying to savor every second of your little baby self. I never want to forget how much I love your sweet-smelling hair, your chubby cheeks, your tiny little fingers, and those chubby little feet of yours!

Love Love Love

Mama