Nine Months

Milo spent about nine months inside me and now he has spent the same amount of time with us in the world. I like the idea of nine months in / nine months out being a developmental stage. He spent nine months as a fetus and nine months as an infant. Now with each day it is becoming clearer that our baby is turning into a toddler.

Milo doesn't toddle per se, but he has his own method of moving around. He's perfected a one armed army crawl which can get him across a room surprisingly quickly. Chris helps him walk across the room by holding his feet on the floor. Milo thinks this is so funny. The little guy also gets around by a hand-me-down ride on toy (operated with the help of mom or dad). He particularly likes to take his codependent puppy on ride and also enjoys arriving at his high chair via the toy.

We're still working on the sleep thing. He's getting better about sleeping in his crib, but naps are still a crap shoot. He's also waking up several times a night and wanting to nurse. On our Thanksgiving trip, we discovered that Milo is not a fan of sleeping his pack and play. In fact in a strange place, Milo would prefer to just sleep with me.

Over the last five weeks, we've been having Thursday night swim "lessons" at our gym. We have all really enjoyed this time in the water. Our little Pisces baby especially has taken to the pool like a fish to, well, water. Although he is the youngest in the class, he holds his own with splashing and hasn't been afraid of the water.

Just in the last week, the concept of finger foods have clicked for Milo. He is now a Cheerio eating fiend. Watching this skill develop as been interesting. He needed the fine motor skills to pick up the tiny piece of food and then the desire to put it in his mouth and chew.

Another very exciting to me revelation of this past month has been that Milo now understands the concepts of books. Although I've been reading to him since he was just weeks old, he hasn't really gotten the idea. Now he knows that the pages turn and there is something new on each page. He also shows likes and dislikes towards specific books - or rather likes and really likes a whole bunch.

This past month has been really great as Milo's personality becomes more apparent. He is a lot of fun to be around with his sunny smile and his contagious giggle. I really like watching him discover new things. Sometimes he looks at me as if to say is this for real? Yep, buddy, it is and it only gets better!

* 9 month old Milo is too busy to pose for pictures and doesn't have time for sitting still.