A Girl Named PJ

Dear Levi,

You are nine months old–and officially a baby on the move! You decided to give crawling a shot on St. Patrick’s Day, and we have video of you wiggling your way across the carpeted basement floor. After weeks of practice, you’re now able to get up on all fours and deliberately alternate your arms and legs as you move forward, which means it is really time to baby proof the house!

Shortly after you turned eight months old, you came down with RSV. Your coughing fits scared me because when your face turned bright red and it appeared as though you were choking, I was convinced that you couldn’t breathe. I even had to call your pediatrician at home! Unfortunately, there was no medication we could give you to stop the cough and we to wait almost a week for it to pass.

Changing your diaper is nearly impossible now. As soon as I put you on your back, you flip yourself over onto your tummy. You are such a squirmy worm! Daddy and I think you definitely look older, and your golden brown hair seems to be getting wavy. When I dress you, I’m now putting you in size 6-9/6-12 outfits. Packing up your size 3-6 clothing, I couldn’t believe how much of your winter wardrobe you didn’t get to wear because it wasn’t that cold outside, although maybe we didn’t take you out all that much when it was chilly.

Daddy has been away for work for half the month, but before he left, he moved your crib mattress down to the second level. You are averaging 10-11 hours of sleep a night! No more waking up to breastfeed. Now when you wake up around 5:30-6am, you are ready to start your day. You are quickly turning me into an early bird! I love the time we spend together before the sun rises.

You learned some new party tricks while you were eight months old like putting your thumb in your mouth and making clicking noises with your tongue. It makes you laugh when we click our tongues back at you! Mealtime has become especially messy in the last week, as you’ve discovered how to blow raspberries and your preferred time to do it is while you are eating. I think I need to wear a bib while I feed you! You still haven’t mastered the sippy cup, but some of your very smart friends also had difficulty figuring out how to tip it, so I’m not really concerned. Eventually you’ll learn.

Oh, and you still love bath time! You are very happy to sit in your inflatable duck tub scooping up water with your toys and banging them together. Sometimes you recline and stretch your legs over the side of the tub, and occasionally you try to roll over onto your belly. Maybe it’s time for more swim lessons!

This month’s stats: At your 9 month check-up, your doctor was smiling from ear to ear because Operation Chubbs was a success! You gained nearly three pounds in three months, putting you back on the chart. You are now 17.8lbs and in the 6th percentile for weight. Hooray! You are 28.75 inches long, which is a very good height to be. We’ll continue mixing butter into your food, but now we can start feeding you slightly chunky (but still mushy) grown-up food in addition to pureed baby food even though you don’t have any teeth yet! You currently nurse when you wake up and eat breakfast 30 minutes to an hour later. After your 9:30-11:30am nap, you get lunch, and I nurse you again an hour or so after that. You sleep from about 2:30-4:30pm (sometimes 3-5pm) and breastfeed when you wake. Dinner is an hour later, and I offer you a breastmilk night cap just before bed.

Stay sweet and happy, baby guy!

xoxo

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I’ll be photographing Levi on the 12th of every month to document his growth this first year. He’ll be wearing a numbered white onesie corresponding to his age in months, sitting in a chair next to his blabla doll for continuity. See all of Levi’s monthly photos here.

{photo taken four days after Levi’s 9 month birthday, 4/16/12}