Months 7, 8 and 9

Hey there buddy!

In month seven you celebrated your first Christmas with my parents and Erica’s mom. We had a real Christmas tree and a ton of presents (90% were yours). We helped you open them and honestly you seemed more interested in the wrapping paper. I think the first Christmas is probably more for your mom and I. As you grow older, you will experience the magic of Christmas and you will learn that it fades as you grow older, much like the joy of celebrating birthdays (I just turned 30 a few days ago), but being able to share it with you and knowing what a magical time it will be for you makes it special all over again.

From all your Christmas gifts, I think your favorite so far is a rubber giraffe that’s called Sophie. You absolutely love gnawing on it and carrying it everywhere. I’m glad your grandmother bought it for you. I’m not sure I would have bought it considering how much it costs. Think a squeaky dog toy you can pick up from Petco for like $2 but instead of $2 its about $30. I would have never known this if Jarrod’s wife Alaina hadn’t said anything.

In month eight we took you to meet Kevin and Angela and we took you to the Georgia Aquarium. You absolutely loved the fish and didn’t cry once. It was great just to see you so happy while watching all the fish.

We also took you to Pensacola Beach where you found out that eating sand isn’t very fun. I can’t wait until we can go back and you’ll get to play in the water.

This past month has been a great one developmentally. You now are rocking six teeth, four on the top and two on the bottom. You are much stronger and have a lot more muscle control. If I extend my fingers, you can grab them and I can pull you up to a standing position. You move with purpose and for almost two weeks you have progressively become more proficient at crawling. Your crawling started as dragging yourself with maybe a foot of forward momentum and now you can pretty much crawl anywhere. You have the ability to balance yourself in the standing position if there is something to hold on to. I think you’re very close to being able to sit up by yourself which is another step closer to walking.

For food, we stopped breast feeding when you started to bite your mom. Your mom wasn’t too happy when that started happening and I don’t blame her. We feed you about four bottles a day and give you a bowl of solid food. Your mom has started to give you chicken along with just about every vegetable I can think of. I’m not really sure if you have a favorite as you seem to eat anything which is a good thing. This past weekend, for my birthday, your mom let me give you a pork spare rib to gnaw on!

It is absolutely amazing to watch you grow and learn about the world. Right now everything is a experiment. You are currently learning cause and effect with objects. You enjoy taking objects and throwing them to see how we react to you doing it. You like to perform this action with your water cup while in your highchair.

You are currently very attached to your mom and don’t like to be without her for any period of time. I know this will pass, but its amazing to see how upset you get if she simply walks away and goes to another room. It’s cute to watch, but I’m sure your mom has another opinion.

I can’t believe in two more months you will be one year old. Time is flying by so fast it’s so hard to remember it all and it seems like every time I turn around something new is happening. I remember a few months ago I was waiting until you were able to crawl and now that you can, I can’t wait to see you walk.

Amazing times, we are so blessed. love you son.