Strides

Will is heading into 9 months full speed ahead! I have a baby calendar that I received as a shower gift that encourages the recording of little daily events and even offers stickers for things like "first tooth" and "doctors visit". I have dutifully kept this calendar up to date with comings and goings as well as baby achievements. Some months are quite blank...August for example looks awfully stark. We didn't do much, and apparently neither did Will. Well let me tell you what, the last 2 months are full full full! Have we had a busy social calendar? No, but Will is getting to use all kinds of stickers. At last posting, Will was a drool monster with no teeth to report. The first week of December his two bottom teeth came in with a bang! No movement since then, but he is enjoying the ability to chew all kinds of things. More are on the way, he has been a bit uncomfortable lately and we can tell his gums are really bothering him.

He was scooting and on the verge of crawling before Christmas. At Christmas he was doing a great impression of an inch worm, finally pushing himself forward. For almost 2 weeks he has been full fledge crawling just like those little cruisers you see on Pampers commercials. It is so fun watching him explore. He loves to hang out in the living room with great-grandpa but won't take long to come out to the kitchen to find mama. He has yet to discover cupboards, but the child-proofing will be happening this week. On January 12th I was busy painting the living room (a lovely shade of sage green) when Will pulled himself up right before our very eyes. He used the couch and was up for only a moment before his bottom hit the floor, but since then he is using anything and everything to get to his feet. This week Zach put him down for a nap in his crib and lo and behold, as he walked by Will's room, there he was standing up and smiling at dad. Zach waved me over and Will was just beaming at us. Today we moved the mattress down to the lowest level...way down there. It will be hard for me to get him in and out I think, I can barely reach. The cute little dust ruffle had to be taken off and it almost looks like a big boy bed. I don't like it. We probably didn't have to adjust the crib yet, but better safe than sorry.

Last month he started little games like shaking his head 'no' and waving. He has no idea that he is saying no, but he thinks it's funny none the less. Sometimes he doesn't know if he wants to shake his head at you or wave, so he does both. His wave is quite comical and he's pretty close to having the farmer wave down! He just kind of tosses one arm up in the air...you might get a little wrist action if you're lucky. He is loving songs and music, dancing and bouncing. His favorite these days is the ABC's. Of course I find this song boring, but his eyes just sparkle and he grins from ear to ear. Maybe it's the enthusiasm of the singer? It cracks him up, which in turn makes me enjoy it too! I am starting to sign it to him and he really pays attention to that. He notices when we sign to him, so we might have to ramp up on our vocabulary.

For Will's first Christmas he was able to see all of the family, including my dad, Lynn and Christopher who came to MN for the holidays. We had such a good time, at his expense, dressing him in his little Santa suits and taking 8 billion pictures of him. As a family, the three of us celebrated "Christmas Morning" on Christmas Eve morning, doing stockings and everything early before we packed up and headed to all of the family events. Zach and I managed to start the 3 presents tradition right away and hope that we can maintain it. Of course the years of "Santa" will cramp that, but from mom and dad, there will only be 3 gifts under the tree. We stayed at my mom's Christmas Eve and had a low key Christmas morning. Than off to my Grandma Iverson's for Christmas Day. We spent the following week up at Zach's mom's place, celebrating Christmas with that side and of course ringing in the New Year. Will must have known that there was a party going on because our 9pm bedtime boy pushed it to 11:45. He almost made it to see 2010 come in. Through all of our travels and pack n' play nights Will was, of course, always such a delight. He is always so good with being handed over to whom ever, and never minds to be social (flirty) with all of his aunties and cousins. We took him to Penney's for Christmas portraits and handed him off to Santa at the mall with nothing but giant smiles and giggles. Our first Christmas with him was such a blessing and we are looking forward to creating and witnessing all kinds of magic in the years to come.

He turns 9 months this Thursday and has his wellness appointment on Friday. I know that he has grown in leaps and bounds and am anxious to see how much taller he is. From 4 months to 6 there was barely any change, now, 3 months later...it is major strides. I'll try to post soon after I have those measurements. He is growing out of everything 6-9 months and his 12 month outfits seem to be the most roomy and comfy.

Will is still eating cereal and baby food, but we are trying to incorporate some of our food as well. This morning he had some of my pancake and banana slices. He'll take small bites of whatever we offer him and doesn't seem opposed to anything...except the sippy cup. Not interested. He will drink the contents if I hold the cup up to his lips, but if the lid is on, he will have nothing to do with it. I keep setting it on his tray and try to have it around often to see if he'll warm up to it...nope. Not yet. Both Will and I have had a cold this last week so I have been trying to get him to drink some juice in addition to his bottles. Again, if I feed it to him the way we would drink, fine...but bottle or sippy cup, forget it! He'll come around, maybe it's too soon for juice?

So that's all the news of the ever growing sweet boy. He continues to bring joy to our lives every day and we still hate putting him to bed at night because we know we will miss him before morning. Nine months in, we have had him for as long as I carried him. I'll pick these last nine months anytime! I can hardly believe it is only 3 months until he turns ONE!! I truly feel like it was just moments ago that we brought him home from the hospital. Good news about his first birthday? It will be SPRING!! In the meantime, watch a little figure skating, Will loves it!