Dear Alex,

9 months old! That’s 3/4 of a year gone by already. It’s been a busy month, but I’ll start with the latest news: on Friday we had your 9 month checkup, where you clocked in at 23 pounds & 28.5 inches! While we were there you had to get a two vaccinations & a blood test. It was the first time Dad had to watch you get a shot, and it broke his heart. But you were a trooper and only cried for a minute or so. The doctor said everything looked great. Your next checkup will be at the 1 year mark! Hard to believe how soon that is!

You spent this month doing things that little boys do best: getting dirty & finding mischief. At this point you’re well into the age of putting everything in your mouth, which on the one hand is great because that’s how you learn about new things, but on the other hand can be REALLY gross. In the middle of a diaper change a couple weeks ago you grabbed your own poop & tried to eat it. Seriously. GAG. Whenever we’re outside you try to eat dirt, grass, etc. Here you are trying to eat a leaf yesterday:

Thankfully you haven’t come across any bugs yet. When the dogs get close enough, you slobber all over them just as much as they slobber all over you. Actually one of our dogs, Cody the corgi, is no longer very interested in you. He occasionally comes over to sniff you, but for the most part he keeps his distance. This leads to a lot of you crawling after him (I’m sure in your head you’re saying “Challenge accepted!” haha). Our other dog, Annie, is absolutely nuts about you! I have to tell her to back off & stop licking your face all. the. time. You love it though!

Here’s a recent picture of Annie giving you kisses. Sorry for the butt shot, you had a little bit of a rash that day so we were giving it some air!

Another thing you’ve done recently that made me think “Oh Lord, he’s such a little man” is that you’ve developed a keen interest in your private parts. LOL. Thankfully you haven’t figured out how to get your diaper off or stick your hand into your diaper yet, but whenever the diaper comes off your penis is your favorite toy. :-X Unfortunately that will always be the case & I imagine will get much worse in the next couple of years, so I’ll leave it up to your dad to have a talk with you about it when the time comes. 😉 Haha. And in the words of Forrest Gump… that’s all I have to say about that.

So far you still don’t have any more teeth, but that hasn’t stopped you from enjoying lots of great food:

Quesadillas!

Pancakes!

I actually don’t take too many pictures of you eating things anymore, since you’re getting really good at it & it’s kind of old news now. But I will say that you are a bottomless pit! We have yet to find something that you won’t eat. You’re also getting really good at using various types of sippy cups, and we let you have a little bit of juice every day (mostly watered down prune juice to help keep you “regular” 😉 ). This straw sippy cup is your favorite:

But as you can see, you still have the issue of not wanting to take things out of your mouth to put other things in! This happens with food, too. You stuff your mouth as full as possible rather than swallowing one bite at a time.  The word “moderation” just isn’t in your vocabulary yet!

However, you have added some other words to your vocabulary:

Within the last few weeks you’ve gotten the hang of several consonant sounds and say lots of things along the lines of “dada,” “baba,” “gaga,” etc. Actually it’s extremely rare for you to say “mama” now though, and I’ve only heard it one other time since the first time you said it last month. :-\ BUT, the look on Dad’s face the first time you said “dada” to him was absolutely priceless! And now “dada” is your favorite word. You are kind of shy around strangers and large groups of people, but at home you are a Chatty Kathy! 🙂

Other than that, we’ve just been busy enjoying the gorgeous fall weather and doing fun things with our mommy + baby friends. A few weeks ago we went to the National Zoo, and you enjoyed checking out all the animals there:

Grandma came with us this time, which was nice because we got a few shots of you & I together. Usually I’m the one taking pictures so that is rare!

Just before we left, all the moms & babies took a quick ride on the carousel. You LOVED it and from the very beginning you were holding onto the bar like a pro!

We also took you to the last Nats home game of the season. You had a blast & flirted with some of the people sitting behind us, haha.

Then it got rainy and we were stuck inside for awhile. I was also at home with you more than usual because the government shutdown kept me out of work. We had a bunch of fun indoor play dates with our friends, like this one:

And you & I did some fun things around the house, like building your first blanket fort!

We hung out in our jammies & skivvies a lot, just playing on the floor with your toys & practicing standing and/or “cruising,” which you’re getting pretty good at.

Look at all those rolls! You are such a cute little chunky monkey. 🙂 That being said, your rate of weight gain has slowed quite a bit since you’ve become mobile… so can you imagine how you’d look if you weren’t?

Another good shot of your chunk (haha), taken just before bath time. Climbing all over things as usual! Your favorite place to pull up & stand these days is actually on my legs. Anytime I’m standing still somewhere for more than 5 seconds, I feel little hands pulling on my pants. When I look down I see this:

HEY MOM LET’S PLAY! 🙂 It’s adorable but then I’m rendered immobile until you move along, for fear of knocking you over & hurting you. When Dad & I sit on the floor, we become living jungle gyms:

You & I also went on lots of jogs together. We don’t let the cold & rain keep us from our jogs thanks to this snazzy thing:

Actually you’ve been jogging with me since you were just a few months old, and I’ve never had trouble with you fussing while we’re out. You always do great, just sitting there enjoying the sights or taking a little nap. The fresh air is good for both of us. 🙂 On the weekends Dad joins us to make it a family affair!

Speaking of family affairs, yesterday Dad & I joined our moms + babies group at a local pumpkin patch/fall playground place. It was so much fun!

Your favorite part, I think, was riding around on this little kid-sized tractor. You were so content to be pushed around & mess with the steering wheel, I think you could’ve done that all day! Please ignore my goofy joke at the end of this video… I’m sure by the time you read this, the song I’m referencing will be ancient history.

So as you can see, it’s been a busy month! We’ve had so much fun together! This is my favorite time of year, so it’s been really fun sharing it with you. 🙂 Before I go, here’s your 9 month progress photo:

Every day you look less & less like a baby, and more & more like a little boy. I know I say this constantly but… time really is flying by SO fast. Since another 1/4 year has gone by, we also got some professional photos taken to mark the occasion:

You did pretty well overall, although it’s VERY hard to get you to sit still for any length of time these days… leading to a lot of “action shots.” You also don’t smile much when the camera’s rolling, but when we’d clap & shout “YAYYYY!” we were able to get a couple of smiles out of you. 🙂 Since we won’t go back until your 1 year pictures in January, we also took a our annual family photo for the holiday cards:

I love our little family so very, very much! Every day is a new adventure, with more & more love growing even though I swear my heart’s going to burst with it. We are truly blessed. 🙂 Until next month, sweet boy!

All my love,
Mom