Musings: 9 months

I think this has been the hardest month for us as far as caring for Marshall. The infant stage was demanding because he wanted to nurse every 45 minutes, BUT he was a little blob that stayed in one spot or was more than happy to be in our arms or a carrier. I could just stick him in the Mei Tai and get things done! Now he just wants to go! go! go! Everyone always complains about how when you have a newborn you can never shower/shave/put on makeup. I never had that issue. In the first three months after he was born, I missed *two* showers. And each one was because I was just feeling lazy. *Now* as soon as I turn on the water he comes speeding into the bathroom because he wants to get in too. If I close the door he'll beat on it and cry. When we brush our teeth, he wants to as well. When I put on my makeup, he wants a part of the action. He knows what he wants and doesn't want but can't communicate it to us which causes frustration all around.

Changing diapers is becoming more and more of a struggle. In a previous post I compared it to alligator wrestling, but its probably more accurate to compare it to team roping. You know, the rodeo event where two people try to tie the cow down while it bucks and spins and tries to get away. Its intense. If Jerad is around to help, one of us will try to sing or peek-a-boo or tickle or do SOMETHING to distract him, but if we're on our own it sucks. Especially because a lot of his cloth diapers have snaps. Taking the extra few seconds to do the snaps seems like an eternity. I hope this little phase is over soon!

Despite the above, he has started doing some new and adorable things as well. If he doesn't want something (usually his diaper changed) he will vehemently shake his "no." I have no idea where this came from because we never have done it to him. Its cute. Also kind of sad. When he is sad he now cries "mamamamama"while reaching for me. Precious. When he's hungry he starts saying "naa-naa-naa-num-num-num."

When Jerad plays guitar, Marshall crawls over to him, pulls up on his legs and dances. He also dances to the radio, if we sing, or just if he's feeling spunky.

He loves the pets. When we say "where's your kitty?" he will look around for Mao. The same with the dogs. The only thing that makes him happier than chasing the animals, is watching the laundry.

I kid you not, he will go back and forth between the washer and dryer for 40 minutes.

Climbing over things is also a fun favorite.

His floor bed taught him how to climb up and down and now he has to crawl over every box, coffee table base, shoe, and dog that gets in his path.

Along with increased mobility comes increased injuries. We always try to not make a big deal about it. If he obviously isn't in pain, I don't just scoop him up when he falls and cries. I go sit by him, talk to him and say things like "hello silly boy, did you fall down?" and try to distract him with something like "do you need a tickletickletickle" or "ooh look over there, something shiny..." For the most part he only cries when he is legitimately hurt (in which case he is immediately picked up and loved upon of course). For months now he has been able to go from laying down to a sitting position. Now when he falls down he will just lay there and calmly say "ahhhhhhhhh" until we find him and pick him back up. Its pretty amusing and/or strange. Today I was in the living room and heard the tell tale "thump" of baby meeting flooring, then silence, then just a monotone "aaahhhhhhhh" and went in the laundry room and found this:

He stayed there long enough for me to laugh, to get the camera, and take pictures. Weirdo.

Over the last few weeks Marshall has developed quite the love for food. He likes everything - from green beans sauteed in garlic to spicy curry dishes to Mexican food. He loves fish, chicken, tofu, veggies of all sorts and is doing really well eating small bites now and feeding himself. We don't spoon feed him anything, just give him french fry sized pieces of whatever we're eating and he feeds himself. He loves it and we love it because we can talk and feed ourselves instead of trying to feed the baby and eat at the same time. The only foods we are holding off on are dairy (besides yogurt) and most grains until at least 18 months. I was very allergic to cows milk when I was a kid and neither Jerad nor I tolerate gluten very well so for the most part we are holding off grains too. Right now he's eating 2-3 'meals' a day, and always after breastfeeding. We're going by the "under one, just for fun" mentality of solid foods being good for exploring new tastes and textures, but nutrition coming from mama's milk at this time.

Sleeping is still going well. Last night I fell asleep in his bed with him and later got to witness some of the funny things he does in his sleep like sit up then topple over. Multiple times. That kid can't even hold still in his sleep, no wonder we all sleep better with him in his own bed! Although, in the last month he's started sleeping in our bed again. Not every night, and he still won't fall asleep in there, but if he comes in for a middle of the night feeding he will drift off to sleep and stay until morning. We love waking up with him in our bed, all his sweet smiles and giggles. We don't love when he tries to wake us up by poking our eyes and sticking his hand on our mouths.