Nine months

Dear Jack,

Today you have officially been out of my tummy as long as you were in it. And that is really hard for me to wrap my brain around. The nine months I was pregnant seemed to drag on forever, but looking back at how much you have changed in these nine months, I realize the time has flown by.



We took you to your doctor appointment on Monday and you weighed 18.8 lbs (still 25th percentile) and were 28 3/4 inches (still 75th percentile). Your Grandma remarked that you had grown 8.5 inches since you were born and I had to think about that for a minute. I swear it was just yesterday that you were wearing newborn outfits and I only needed one arm to hold you when you were nursing. I didn't notice you getting so big. Stop it!

You have learned so much in the last month. Your army-crawling turned into full-fledged up-on-all-fours crawling and you started pulling yourself up on everything: the couch, the table, the highchair, Mommy and Daddy's legs and the crib bars. I think you would pull yourself up on one of the cats if they would sit still long enough.



You've taken a few tentative steps from me to Daddy, but I think they were more by accident than by design. You cruise along the furniture like nobody's business and you've learned how far away is too far when it comes to reaching out for something. You still fall down -- a lot -- but you're getting better.

We average about five falls a day that require Mommy to kiss it and make it better, and about five falls a day where you just go about your business as if nothing happened.

Last month, you got sick for the first time. This month, not even three weeks later, you were sick again with a cold and another ear infection. I really hope this is not the beginning of a winter of discontent, let me tell you, because the co-pays alone could bankrupt us.



When we had you at the doctor, we asked about this wacky rash you had developed. What started out as a few stray rough patches of skin blossomed into a rash on almost all of your little body. Your pediatrician said it was eczema and was probably caused by something you were eating. We traced it back to your yogurt, and deduced you were probably sensitive to dairy. After we cut yogurt out of your diet and all dairy out of mine, your skin made a marvelous turnaround and the patches -- now fading -- only reside on your back. Thankfully, we discovered YoSoy (from the makers of your beloved YoBaby) and you have returned to the world of yogurt eating.

The nursing continued last month, and I can honestly say, it's been a piece of cake. You are down to four or five sessions a day and it's like second nature now. Daddy keeps saying he's not sure how we will soothe you come February when the milkbar closes. I think it will be OK, but at this point, I can't even imagine how on earth we will start the weaning process.

Your eating habits have not been affected by the fact you have no teeth. Not a single one. Not even a bud. But you don't care. You just chew your hands and drool all over the place and bite everything in sight. You've had all the signs of teething for the last five months. No, really. I think you might turn a year old and still look like a hillbilly.

But a well-traveled hillbilly.



This past month we took you on your first plane ride. Daddy and I had extremely low expectations for this trip. We were worried your head would explode when you realized you had to sit still for four hours and your shrill cries would cause the air marshal to pull his weapon on us and force an emergency landing somewhere in Nebraska.

But you were a champ. You didn't cry, you actually slept for part of the trip, you charmed everyone from gate agents to fellow passengers to the crew. You were presented with a little pair of wings and a certificate marking your first flight and Mommy and Daddy left the plane with smiles on their faces. Because you did so well, we booked some more trips for the near future, so we'll see how that goes. But you loved San Francisco and had a great time touring the city with us and Grandma and Grandpa.



Right after we got back from our trip, we decided it was time to start letting you Cry It Out. You were waking up six or seven times a night and trying to make it your personal mission to spend as much time in Mommy and Daddy's bed as possible. I had developed a permanently pulled-muscle in my ribcage from sleeping on my side and nobody was getting much quality sleep.

The first day was rough. But after the first 39-minute shriekfest, you seemed to get the idea. The crying has been less and less in the last two weeks and now, if you cry in the middle of the night, you usually put yourself back to sleep within five minutes. You started sleeping from 7:30-7:30 with a brief nursing session around 5 a.m. and everyone is in a better frame of mind these days.

When you were a wee little baby, you used to scream during bathtime. We never thought we would see the day you would willingly play in the water. But it's become one of your favorite parts of the day. Every night before bed, Daddy takes you upstairs and gives your bath. You play with your floaty toys and sit in your little bath seat and splash and chatter away. I can hear you laughing and babbling on the monitor and it makes me smile every night.



For Halloween, you were a Jack-o-lantern. And I know I am biased, but you were the cutest pumpkin I have ever seen. You hit a few houses for Trick or Treat, and Daddy appreciated your pimping candy for him. I know the first Halloween is obviously more for the parents than it is for the kids. You'll never remember it, but it's probably the one I will remember the most.



There are so many things I tell myself to remember. I think to myself almost every day "I will never forget him looking like this." And then the next day, you already look different and I have forgotten. I look back at pictures of you when you were born and I can't believe you have changed so much. I see you every day and I don't notice the subtle changes, but recently I noticed you are becoming a little boy.

I love it that you are so independent. You are happy to play by yourself for a few minutes at a time. You have no problem with other people holding you. You still smile at strangers. I hope you keep this trait because it's something that will serve you well for your entire life. Being able to entertain yourself and create your own fun means you'll never have a dull moment.



In the last few days you have learned possibly your best trick yet.

For the last couple months I would say "Can I have a kiss?" And then kiss you and make a smacking noise and say "Thank you!" And most of the time you would laugh, or grab my nose, or squirm away from me. But last week, I said to you "Can I have a kiss?" and I pursed my lips and waited a second. Then you leaned in and softly touched your little lips to mine.

I did it a few more times to be sure, and each time you would get very quiet and lean in and kiss me. I shower you with kisses and hugs all the time, but to finally have you reciprocate was an amazing feeling. Just this weekend, you did the same thing for Daddy and he felt the same way.

Your smile has always melted my heart, but your kisses may have liquified it permanently. I know someday you won't want to kiss me, and that's OK, because I will always have the memory of the first time you did.

Love,
Mommy