learning to fly: monthly

I. Can't. Believe. It.
My son is 9 months old. That's 3/4 of an entire year we have spent with our little guy. He is amazing and the light of our lives and I kind of forgot what life was like without him. He is growing up so fast, and the latest thought on my mind is that I wish I could just freeze frame time. I remember when he was first home, just 2 days old, and had a case of the hiccups while lying on his giraffe playmat and thinking there was no way I could fall more in love with him. But, alas, I have. Every single day I find something new to treasure and engrain in my mind and heart about Tucker. It might be how he grabs his lovie, rolls on top of it, and pulls on his ear when he is falling asleep. It might be how he thinks his daddy hung the moon and laughs at everything he does. It might be that time he sneezed while he had a mouth full of green beans, and it looked like someone had splatter painted. Weird as it is, I also cherish moments when he is frustrated, throwing a fit, or kicking his legs because he hates having his teeth brushed. I know that I will never get back a single moment with my boy and as fast as these past nine months have flown, I know that his 9 year old update is just around the corner. ;)

As usual here are some notes to little bit about this period in his life...

You won't sit in the chair for monthly pictures anymore. Daddy didn't like playing catch every time you stood up on the chair so we moved to the floor and these pictures show the reality of the moment. ;)

You are into size 4 diapers since you got too long for the 3's.

You still sleep on your tummy with your butt up in the air and your lovie underneath you. You tend to scootch up into the corner of your crib most nights too.

I still think your head is a bit crooked, but the dr. and your Daddy think it's no biggie and the only person who notices is your momma.

You are between sizes on clothes. The 9 month carter's stuff is too short, but the 12 month is too wide. 6-12 month size things from gap and gymboree fit you the best right now.

You are a very hungry little guy and enjoy your meals. You also need to be eating when we are eating or you feel left out so we always have mum mums, puffs, etc. on hand.

You also can hold your own bottle.

You are completely off of reflux meds and have finally switched to a regular formula versus the stuff that was 35 bucks a tub! The Dr. was right when he said you would outgrow it by 8 months!

You are very relaxed when we go on walks in the evening.

You pull up on everything. All of the time. Even things that aren't safe.

You kind of understand no, but choose to try and do what you want anyways.

You LOVE to play. Your favorite toys are your light up activity table, your turtles, and anything that you can roll around.

You also enjoy helping out with chores. ;) The washing machine, dishwasher, and laundry basket are a few of your favorite things.

You still love the doggies. Playing tug of war with Kirby, watching Sako run on the treadmill, and chasing Xena at Grandma's always make you laugh.

You still love the beach, but won't get to play until next year since the water is getting too cold.

You love playing peek-a-boo and had a blast trying to get Daddy's hand through the window.

Baths are a favorite too but you found your we-we and grab for it in the bath and every morning when you get your diaper changed to make sure it is still there.

You got to meet your great grandma Pomerening. She came to visit you and I'm pretty sure you wore her out. ;)

You have started to push things around by walking behind them. You still can't steer and sometimes the push thing goes faster than you, but you love it and are so proud of yourself! We think you will be walking hands free by Thanksgiving for sure. :)

Silly great uncle Jamey let you swim in your birthday suit at great grandma's birthday party. He adores you and you have no idea how much your laugh lights up his hurting heart.

You are really fast when you crawl and like to crawl under things. One day you crawled back and forth under the blanket daddy had draped over his legs for a full 40 minutes thinking it was hilarious the whole time. I think we need to get you a pop up tunnel for christmas!

And just for comparison, here you are with Buck the stuffed deer at about 3 weeks and again at about 41 weeks. :)

On September 19, 2012, our boy Tucker turned 8 months. He accomplish quite a bit in the month leading up to this. Here is what I want him to know.

- You wear size 9 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and weigh 20 pounds. We call you our little sack of potatoes since you are so heavy to pick up. ;) You also have 6 teeth with the 7th cutting through.

- We also call you Curious George since you are checking out everything!

-You moved into a rear facing big boy car seat. It took Daddy quite some time to get these things installed into the cars!

- You are becoming a super fast crawler. Most of the time you do this awkward crawl where your left leg is straight and you use it to push yourself along.

- You are attempting to pull up on things and sometimes you succeed but your legs are still pretty shaky.

- You absolutely love your elephant ball blowing toy, although the basketball hoop and blocks are still favorites as well.

- You have also discovered the joys of random things around the house. The spring-like doorstop, dog bowl, front door, and washer/dryer are apparently really interesting. ;)

- You love to eat. This month your favorites are cut up bananas, sweet potato puffs, and greek yogurt. We still make all of your food although we do give you organic pouches if we are out to eat or at the coast since frozen cubes don't travel very well.

- You are pretty well-behaved at restaurants as long as you get something to snack on too.

- You still love helping Mommy with chores. Yay! :)

- You learned how to play hide and seek. When we hide under a blanket, you lift it up and laugh uncontrollably when you see us underneath. Then you hide us and do it again.