Saturday, January 23, 2016

Growing Boy

Why do babies grow up so fast?! I am so looking forward to watching him learn, grow and hit all of the milestones, but I just wish time could slow down a little bit. I think the reason time seems to go by so fast when you have babies because they change so much so fast.
So much changes in just a few months! Top: 4-6 months, Bottom: 8-9 months
Since he was born just nine short months ago (on the first) he has already learned so much: he recognizes people (especially mommy and daddy), grabs things, smiles, laughs, says mama, dada, baba, ga, hey, and a few other "words" he doesn't know he is saying, squeals, "sings" and makes lots of other crazy noises, studies things (like the patterns on his blankets and burp cloths), plays with toys, rolls over, imitates hand movements, chews and sucks on everything, sits up by himself, scoots, pulls himself up on furniture, opens his mouth for a spoon (or a boob more than anything) and feeds himself finger foods.
Some of his talents include: dropping things on the floor, spinning his shoes by the laces, finding money that daddy drops, "reading", attempting to buckle and unbuckle himself, peek-a-boo with anything he can hide behind and once he even gave himself a hickey on his arm!

These all seem like such little things, but it is truly amazing just how much babies learn in the first year of life. In the next few months he will likely learn his first words (he is already loud and loves to babble), start crawling (any day now really) and even learn to walk. This week he started taking steps while holding onto the table or couch. He will start eating more foods and develop likes and dislikes of his own. He already doesn't like peaches or green beans, favors certain toys (mostly the noisy ones and books--he likes to turn the pages) and throws little tantrums when he doesn't get his way: he squeals and throws himself backwards, so I have to always be ready to catch him when I put him down in case he decides at the last minute he doesn't want to sit!

He gets into everything! Last week while I was putting clothes in the washer he grabbed a handful of dryer lint out of the garbage can and I caught him just as he shoved it in his mouth. He pulls clothes out of the laundry basket almost as fast as I fold them and put them in it. He loves to put things in boxes and take them back out. He also loves to get into the garbage can in the bathroom while I am in the shower so it spent a week on the counter before I put it in the toilet closet. If I put his high chair where he can reach any of the kitchen drawers he will open the drawers and pull stuff out. He scoots around so fast that nothing is safe (including Saisha), especially now that he can pull himself to his feet. Add that to his tendency to put things in his mouth and we are quickly learning to keep small things off the coffee table as well as making sure nothing falls on the floor.
When you think about where he started, as a small baby who couldn't hold his own head up or see more than a few inches in front of his face, his growth and development so far seem so truly amazing. He is showing his own little personality and I am so excited to see more of that come through.

I can't believe how fast time flies. I get a little sad every month as he gets closer to a year old--he's not going to be a baby for much longer! I love getting him new clothes but hold back tears as I pack up the ones he has grown out of. One thing that never changes: that sweet face just melts my heart!
How can you not adore this face?
Here are his changing stats, just for fun:
  • Birth:
    • Height: 21.5 inches
    • Weight: 7 lbs. 15 oz.
  • 4 Months:
    • Height: 25.25 inches
    • Weight: 13 lbs. 8 oz.
  • 8 months:
    • Height: 29 inches
    • Weight: 18 lbs. 6 oz.
  • Today (almost 9 months old!):
    • Height: 29 inches (still...as far as I could tell trying to measure my little grump today)
    • Weight: 20 lbs. 13 oz. (He is not my tall skinny boy any more!)