Nine Month Newsletter

I had this written almost a month ago but never got a chance to post it.
Better late than never!

Dear Rory –
Today you turn 9 months old, which basically means that you’ve now spent as much time in the outside world as you did in my tummy. Hmmm, crazy thought.

The list of things that you have learned to do in the last month is a long one, especially in the last week or so. It’s almost as if you looked at the calendar and said, “Hey, I’m turning 9 months pretty soon here so I better start playing catch up!” and all of a sudden you’re busting out with all of these new things that you can do.

Here’s the latest list:

- Waving goodbye. Okay, so maybe you’re really just imitating us, but you seem to do it on cue and it makes your dad and I puff up with pride.

- Eating Puffs (kinda like little Cherrios, but they dissolve faster in the mouth and come in a ton of yummy flavors). It’s taken you quite some time to get used to eating anything more solid than mush, but we’ve been working on it and now not only are you downing Puffs like a pro, you’re picking them up all by yourself. As a matter of fact, you love eating them SO much that even if you’re totally engrossed in something else, as soon as I put a Puff down in front of you, you instantly drop whatever you’re doing, grab the Puff, and shove it in your mouth at warp speed. No baby should be able to move that fast.

- Sitting up by yourself. I realize that you’ve been sitting up for awhile now, but we always had to put you in that position. Now when we lay you down, if you don’t want to stay there, you just pop yourself back up to sitting position - and boy, doesn’t that make nap times just that much more fun!

- Clapping. You just started doing this the other day accompanied by a sound that I swear sounds just like “Hurray.” You’re so enthralled with this new accomplishment of yours that you’re applauding yourself all the time now (unless you’re shoving a Puff in your mouth, of course!). But it’s so darn cute, that we could care less.

- Making the “Crinkle Face”. One day you, out of the blue, you started crinkling your little nose up and snorting. Where you got this from, I have no idea, but damn, it’s adorable!

Still no definitive crawling at this point, but you’re definitely getting there. You seem pretty content with rolling around the room, but I can tell you really want to get up and start moving. I’m in no hurry, though, kiddo, so you just take your sweet time. I want to enjoy these last few weeks of you being my baby before you turn into a toddler…

Happy 9th month, Rory Bear.

Love,
Mama