9 months

Colterman,

Question for you. When did you start looking like a little boy instead of a baby? When did you go from looking like this?

To this?

Your chunky little body is now turning into one of a little active boy, tall and lean.

Those thighs that seemed to have never ending rolls are now looking like a toddler's legs. Yes, i'm sorry, I need to post a picture for proof.. you'll forgive me some day... probably when you have your own baby and do the same thing.

You still have just one tooth on the bottom. I love this next picture because it shows your tooth and your sweet little pink nose.

My oh my what a busy boy you are now. No more sitting around playing toys for hours, you pretty much want to be on the move all the time. Our daily routine involves you crawling into the bathroom to stand on the magazine holder, then into the kitchen to see if you can find any left over remnants from your last meal on the floor, then under the barstools, and then over to the couch to try to find the computer. Next you play some toys for maybe .5 seconds, and then off to the shoe basket, and then to the stairs. What is becoming more common is just a beeline right to the stairs. Our innocent little activity of playing on the first stair has now turned into a full scale climb up the entire staircase. Soon this game will be over my little love bug because we are in the market for some gates. I have a feeling you'll like standing and banging on them though. You make me nervous sweet boy- you have already started putting a knee up on your activity table trying to climb on to it, you scale the stairs with ease, and who cares about objects or people in your way, you just lift up your body and climb right over. Are you going to be a mountain climber? Oh my, I think I still have some getting used to this whole raising a boy thing :)

Your favorite things to do besides crawling all over the place, are riding on your little car (which is perhaps the best leg work out for whoever is pushing you),

standing on my lap in order to play in the bathroom sink (pulling the drain up and down and the handles forward and back), watching the dryer spin around, playing with your piano activity center, splashing in water, and going for walks- especially if we end up at the park.

If you do play with toys, which is rare, you still like really random things like the z cube of your alphabet blocks, your mini soccer ball, your key set, the triangle man, and the elmo phone. Your love for the jumperoo has pretty much faded and I don't think it's going to be long before we have to put it away. tear.

One thing that has been exciting for me is that you are just recently starting to get back into reading books again. We still have to basically read board books because you rip and try to eat normal pages. It is always interesting what books you decide to sit through. Right now, I can usually make it through tails, wheels on the bus, barnyard dance, and these are my hands (which is actually a normal book but for some reason you just sit and look at the pictures). You sometimes like 10 little ladybugs and your boat book.

Overall, your temperament continues to be pretty mellow. You offer a lot of smiles, but you don't tend to bust out many giggles unless we really work it by throwing you in the air, tackling you and giving you a ton of tickles, or lifting you up high and then falling onto the bed. You don't really play with other kids yet, but you are really interested in them and occasionally offer the random hair grab or toy steal to let them know you're there. You are starting to become a little clingy.. it's not uncommon for me to feel two little hands on the back of my legs when I am washing dishes or getting ready in the morning. Unfortunately, it's easy for me to get frustrated and feel like I can't get anything done, but I try to remember that it wont be long before those two little hands are bigger than mine and they wont be asking to be picked up, but rather asking for money to go out.

We are in a transition with food. You have really mastered eating some non pureed things like pieces of bread, waffle, black beans, raspberries, but other times you choke and gag at the texture, which scares me to death. You are a little picky sometimes, but we have discovered a few tricks that tend to distract you like giving you a big cup, your own spoon or fork, or singing really loudly.

We were in a really good rhythm with sleep, but for some reason this last week we have had some challenges. You have really fought your morning nap and have only slept for 30 minutes, except today - you are currently taking a 3 hr 15 min nap.. so crazy. At night, we try to get you in bed by 6:30/7ish and you normally sleep until 6:30 ish (with one wake up). For the past 2 weeks, you have started sleeping until 5 and then going back until after 7 which is absolutely bizarre. I don't know what you're doing and honestly I probably spend way too much time obsessing about your sleep and trying to figure you out.

Colter, you bring us so much joy. I am having so much fun dreaming up Christmas traditions to do as a family. Everything just seems a little more special now that you are here.

I love you sweet boy.