9 Months

Holy moly! 9 months.

The other day I pulled out a photo book I had made when Dax was less than 3 weeks old. He was such a tiny, squinkie little guy. It was fun to look back and think about how dependent, squishy, and sleepy he was not that long ago. I can hardly see that little baby in him anymore. In fact, I hardly have time to snuggle and stare at that sweet face anymore at all because he has fully turned into an inquisitive, active, independent little boy. While I love the new opportunities to giggle with him and watch him constantly learning and growing, I will still always be wishing that time would slow down.

This month brought some exciting new changes, some of which you already know if you check the blog regularly. First, he is ridiculously mobile. If he is sitting on the floor, you can guarantee he will be someplace new within a few seconds. He still won't pick his tummy up, but has mastered the army crawl. He can span the length of a room in seconds flat and doesn't hesitate to go for what he wants regardless of how far away it is or even if it is under furniture. He also LOVES to run around either holding our hands or with us close by to catch him when he falls over. He still can't take more than a couple of steps on his own, but is never happier than when he's trying. And we're pretty sure he likes to fall almost as much as he likes to run. Now we just need to work on transitions: crawling to sitting, sitting to standing, standing to sitting, etc... :)

Happy to have completed his long trek down the hallway

Standing by his toy

The only thing that rivals his joy of walking is playing with his puppy. He recently discovered how fun it is and will now carry it around with him, check periodically to make sure it's close by while he plays with other toys and laugh and laugh when we make the puppy bark. It is very sweet to see how much he cares about it.

Last month I mentioned that we had started to give him baby puffs as a snack sometimes. We have continued to give them to him regularly and he is now a champ at feeding himself. His pincer grasp has gotten so strong and he learned to let go once he gets a puff to his mouth so he can actually enjoy them.

We were wondering why he was just playing with the puffs that day and realized he still had his pacifier! Silly boy :)

His new-found hand strength has also helped to expand his thrills when walking around the kitchen and dining room in his walker. He still spends some time doing laps, checking what's going on in the backyard, and following Mom and Dad around, but will also stop to open cupboards and play with anything at his level. The other day he was reaching for something on the floor in front of him and was working so hard his feet were off the floor and he was balancing on the tray of the walker. I don't know if I should be happy we have such a tenacious and persistent little dude, or worried that he is so stubborn!

He also FINALLY cut his first tooth! After months and months of what we thought was teething, one little pearly white made an appearance. Almost immediately following, his second tooth started to pop up and is visible, yet not quite through.

It was tough to get Dax to stop long enough for a close-up, but you can see the the tooth if you look carefully

Finally, we have turned another corner when it comes to bath time. We spent months dreading Dax's bath time because it was truly torture for him. He eventually warmed up to them and slowly started to enjoy the tub. Over the past few weeks that has transitioned into pure excitement because he learned to splash. He no longer has any fear of getting water on his face and will literally soak the two of us and all the space around his tub during his short bath time. We quickly learned to turn him toward the shower wall when he is in the tub to shrink the splash zone. While we always hoped he would enjoy baths, we are now hoping he will find some new ways to enjoy them!

It's hard to imagine that he could continue to change and grow SO much every month and we are continuously amazed by our little guy. Happy 9 months Daxy!

You can look back to see his growth here.