I started this post almost 1 week ago, but the stomach flu decided to pay a visit to our household and afflict every single member. Including my 9 month old. So we have been slightly preoccupied. I thought I would take a break from laundry and sanitizing our germy house to finish a post about my baby.
Since our face to face introduction just over 9 months ago, I feel like I've come to know William pretty well. I'd even venture to say I know him better than anyone. He's at the age where his personality is really becoming apparent. Just like his big brothers, he is happy, loving, sweet, affectionate, good-natured, playful, and of course, handsome and adorable. His pediatrician was inclined to agree with my assessment of his looks and pleasant disposition, adding that he looked "perfect". At 9 months old, he is at an average weight of 20 lbs, 6.5 oz, and in the 95th percentile for height, at 30 1/2 inches. The Dr. attributes his 50th percentile weight to his, as she phrased it, "precociousness", since he is quite the active little guy.
This 9 month old stays very, very busy. In this context, busy typically means getting into anything he can get his hands on. Even (especially?) if he shouldn't.
His expert crawling and cruising get him pretty much anywhere he wants to be. And therefore, pretty much anything he wants to get into. His favorite spots:
Hailey's food and water bowls.
He actively seeks them out, and when he notices I've accidentally left them on the floor, he looks at me, grins, and races (while panting) to the bowl. I was curious what he'd do if I let him win. OK, I didn't actually
let him win in this picture...he beat me fair and square. Don't judge- it's tough to run across a hardwood floor while wearing slippery socks.
As you can imagine, he was not happy when I took the bowl away. As a peace offering, I've let him play with a mixing bowl that looks almost exactly like Hailey's. He likes it well enough and will play with it, but a clean bowl without the scent of licked up dog food just isn't the same.
Another hot spot? The trash can. When Jacob was Will's age, our trash can was inside a locked cabinet. So he was never able to enjoy the wonders of trash can digging. Alex, on the other hand, was highly intrigued by the contents of the can. And now, so is Will. I will say that it's incentive to keep the garbage from piling up too high.
The cabinets. This was a clue that it was probably time to do a little Will proofing.
The bathrooms. Oh my gosh, this kid can't get enough of the toilet paper. Just as he does with Hailey's bowls, he checks to see if someone has inadvertently left the bathroom door open. And if so? He's there in an instant. Using the bathroom while he's with me is a multi-tasking adventure.
The refrigerator and the pantry are extremely popular hangout spots.
Another enjoyable activity for Will is playing with his big brothers. When he hears their voices in another room, he stops to listen, just as he did when he was an infant. At 9 months old, he does a pretty great job of hanging with the big kids. He hugs, kisses, chases, tickles, wrestles, and plays. Simply put, he loves his brothers and they love him.
"Can I play?"
Speaking of playing, Will enjoys crawling from toy to toy to toy around the house. He can entertain himself independently more often now. His fascination with Hailey continues, and he often invites her to join in the fun. Or he'll just pull her hair.
Sometimes playing is serious business and requires intense focus and concentration. (Check out that red hair!)
And sometimes playing is all about fun. Is a boy ever too young to play with cars? In our house, the answer is NO.
Eating has also become a frequent pastime. Will is currently eating solids about 5 times/day (and of course, he's still a VIP at the boobie bar). His very favorites are macaroni & cheese and yogurt (he would happily eat these for every meal if I let him). Second favorite foods are bananas, peaches, and pears. A couple of weeks ago, he tried Puffs and Cheerios for the first time. He wasn't quite sure what to think at first.
But after a moment of debate on the new texture, decided he liked them.
It wasn't long before he learned to feed himself.
Chewing can be a tricky task.
And occasionally, a Puff ends up not quite where he'd like it to be.
After one such episode of a misguided Puff, Will looked like he'd immediately sprouted two front teeth. Jacob and I have laughed hysterically at this picture, with Jacob saying, "He looks like a bunny!"
Somewhere along the line, Will developed a little habit of spitting. At first we thought it was funny. He thought it was funny. And that was all well and good until the spitting began happening during mealtimes. For a while there, I was getting sprayed with food constantly. Saying "no" was completely ineffective. The only thing that got him to kick the habit was ignoring the behavior. Spitting is nowhere near as fun when you don't get a reaction!
But sometimes, a certain big brother thinks it's funny to try and encourage the behavior to make an appearance again.
And since Will loves to make people laugh, he was happy to oblige.
See the spittle captured on camera?
When Jacob and Alex were babies, I taught them sign language for "more" and "all done". Will hasn't learned "more" yet, but has gotten the hang of "all done". It's not
quite the exact sign, but he makes it pretty clear when he's finished.
Happy eating.
All done eating. I'm not sure the hand gesture is even necessary since the expression alone makes it pretty clear.
"I'm all done and there's nothing you can do about it. So there."
You would think eating well and staying so busy and active during the day would result in long, peaceful slumbers during naptime and nighttime. Actually, the restful sleep did not come about until recently. As in, just over a week ago recent. We had a pretty awful sleep habit to kick (Will considered my boob to be his own personal paci to soothe him back to sleep every hour every night). And naps? There were only two of them every day, usually lasting 30 minutes.
Mommy was
exhausted. Something had to give, for my sake and for Will's.
So last weekend, I gritted my teeth and began the quest to sleep train Will. Traditional "cry it out" methods were not for me, so I decided to stay in his room, keep him in his crib, and soothe cribside as needed. There were many moments when it took all of my strength to keep from picking him up. But we stuck with it, and after a few (pretty horrendous) nights, it got better. Fast forward to present, after lots of crying, patience, and determination, and he is napping approximately 3 hours total during the day and sleeping hours at a time at night (two nights he even slept 9 hours straight!).
I'm pretty darn proud of both of us.
The improved sleeping is just the icing on top of an already perfect, adorable cake. There's a lot to love and be proud of when it comes to Will.
Like his smile that comes so easily and lights up his entire face.
The way he wraps his arms around us, lays his head on our shoulders, and hugs us tight.
His open mouthed kisses.
The way he playfully chases us (one of his new favorite games), mouth wide open and yelling. (You can probably guess that his brothers love to play this with him.)
The way he smiles up at me while he's nursing.
The way he laughs when we give each other high fives as he's nursing.
That he's standing for long periods of time! We think he'll take his first steps sometime in his 9th month.
The way he pops off the boob just long enough to look up at me with a gaze and smile that manages to say both, "I love you" and "My compliments to the chef". Then it's right back down to business.
His good-natured and happy disposition.
And those big, beautiful blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair.
Happy 9 Months to one of three little boys who make my life complete.
