Nine Months Old!

Dear Jack and Ben,

I get so behind on these posts, but I am doing this one actually on your nine month birthday, so I think it should be more detailed than the others! (It is hard to remember what you were like a month or more after it happens.)

This month has been a fun one. We had a lot of time off with Daddy (Veterans Day weekend and all of Thanksgiving week) and you boys just love spending time with him, so that was a big deal for you! For Thanksgiving we spent a few days in Canton, OH with Brian, Amy, Alaina and Alex Chase and then a few days in Wheeling, WV to see the rest of the Cochran family (Grammy's side). You boys loved your cousins Alaina and Alex and were huge fans of playing with big kids.

You got your first tub bath over Thanksgiving break at Great-Aunt Beverly's house. You loved it, especially because you got to take it together. Jack did slip and hit his head on the side of the tub, though. He wiggles too much and is so heavy to hold onto that Mommy has a hard time keeping him upright in the tub. She needs to buy a non-slip bath mat for you boys! You both try to reach really far for tub toys out of your reach and that is (literally) your downfall.

Today you are trying your first naps together (in the same room, not the same crib) in months. You started napping separately around five and a half months because Jack would cry for a minute or two before settling down to sleep, but that would send Ben into hysterics which would take more than the 45 minute nap to calm down from... So Ben has been sleeping in a pack-n-play in Mommy's room and Jack in his own crib. We tried a couple times before to sleep together with bad results. But today you have gone to sleep like pros together... Ben didn't fall asleep immediately for the first nap, but Jack slept through his talking, and Jack was very upset and cried for about 15 minutes before taking his afternoon nap, while Ben fell asleep immediately. So I guess you two were ready to sleep together again! You always slept together at night, but because naps are so much shorter than night sleep, it was hard for you to both fall asleep and stay asleep for the time that you needed. I think that the separation was good for you because you both had those three and a half months to get really well-rested and good at falling asleep and falling back to sleep before you had to learn how to do it together. Great job, boys!

Jack usually gets to nurse first so that he will be quiet while Ben is nursing (Ben is much more distractible). However, I think Ben is starting to get offended by my always "choosing" Jack first, so I am going to try switching that up now!

You love to roll your toddler-size soccer ball back and forth to each other. You are quite good at it, actually! Jack is super serious about getting the ball accurately to Ben, whereas Ben just loves flinging it wherever it will go.

You have both started grabbing toys out of each others' hands now. Thankfully no one gets offended by this yet! Mrs. Osborn tells me that Joel and Daniel think it is hilarious when the other takes something from them, so hopefully you two will have that same attitude for a while... except that I am worried that you will start taking toys from the other babies in nursery and hurt their feelings!

In between changing each of your diapers, I will put you sitting up face to face in Ben's crib with toys and a hanging crib toy to play with. I often come back from washing my hands to find one of you bending over, with the other grabbing his head and open-mouthed kissing him and a slobber spot on the kisser's head from where the other one got him originally. So sweet! When Jack is feeling cuddly, he will lean in similarly to me so that I can kiss his head.

Jack, you are 19 lb, 11 oz (25-50%) today and 28 1/4 inches long (50%). 30 inches is the maximum height for your car seat, so I am glad you will have your big boy one in less than a month! You are too chunky for 9 month shirts and pants now, so you are fully into 12 month clothing. Sometimes I run out of 12 month onesies and try to get you into a 9 month one, but, man, are they tight on your little pot belly!

You have stick-straight white blonde hair that has fully grown back in now. It doesn't spike like it did when you were a wee baby, probably because it is a lot longer and heavier now. Sometimes the hair on the bottom of the back of your head will curl out away from your head, but that is the only hint of curl I see in your hair!

Poor darling, you had a yeast rash under your neck for the past month. It was just about to go away when we ran out of Nystatin and the doctor wouldn't refill it for us, so we had to switch to Lotrimin, which took a few days before it began working, during which time your rash came back pretty bad again. Now it is just about faded and I am looking forward to not having to torture you by putting that goopy stuff on your neck any more.

You are a great eater. You will pretty much try anything... The only food I have ever had a problem with you eating was avocado, and that was months ago, so you probably would eat it now. You are a really good "gummer" and never choke on your food, even when you get sizeable pieces to gum. You use the sign for "milk" as a sign for any food, which is pretty cute and smart of you - you are making a connection between breastmilk and the table food you get!

You are easily moving from sitting to your belly now. I am fairly certain that getting yourself sitting up will be soon, too! You are often on all fours and have learned how to scoot your knees forward at the same time to propel yourself toward objects. You are still better at crawling backwards, though, and you haven't figured out how to move your hands forward yet.

You call Daddy "Dah" now. You love to enunciate consonants, but no M sound yet... Come on, dude! You love when Mommy repeats your consonants back to you and you get very talkative when she has a conversation with you!

You love to raise your eyebrows at Mommy and she raises hers back at you. We have entire conversations that way, especially when Ben is nursing and you are playing in your exersaucer.

You are really good at the rotary dial on your pop up toy. You love to stick one finger in a hole and revolve it! You are excellent at closing the lids, too. You never had a problem with getting your thumb in the way.

You have figured out where Mommy keeps your toys (in boxes on the bottom shelf of the coffee table) and can pull down the boxes to get out what you want to play with. Smart, sneaky boy!

Ben, you are 16 lb, 12 oz (5%) today and 27 1/4 inches long (25-50%). You are in 9 month clothes still, but have moved up to 12 month pajamas. You are almost as tall as Jack, even if you are a thin little guy!

You have your Daddy's hair, except that it is white blonde (like his was as a baby). It is wavy and will hold whatever shape that it is in when it dries for DAYS. One time Daddy accidentally gave you a Mohawk while drying your hair and it would not stay down, even with a damp rag run over it! Mommy tries to comb your hair to one side like Daddy's now and you look a lot like him that way.

You are not so interested in consonants still, probably because you still prefer screaming. But I have heard you say "ma-ma" and "ba-ba" every once in a while, so I know you are learning them... You're just taking your time deciding when you will babble.

You love to suck on the pointer finger of your left hand. Whenever you are tired I frequently see you doing this and then popping it out to play with something before sticking it back in.

We are working on "milk," "thank you," "drink" and waving goodbye, but Mommy forgets to sign those very consistently, so you haven't caught on quite yet. But you are now using "all done" and "please" in contexts outside of food, even if you won't sign them when prompted any more. You are a very picky eater and will whine a lot, especially when you are ready to switch from eggs to yogurt and if you don't like whatever Mommy is trying to feed you for dinner. You will purposefully not chew (gum) things that you don't like and choke on them. You are my little punk when it comes to eating! (No wonder you are not growing quite as quickly as Jack.) Also, you have now figured out how to rip your bib off, although you are getting better about leaving it on when Mommy tells you to not touch it.

Your newest (adorable) trick is scrunching up your nose! You do it both when you are very happy and very mad. When you are mad (especially about Mommy feeding you something you don't want to eat at that moment), you rapidly and audibly force air through your nose rather than making any noise, so that Mommy can't sneak any bites of food in there. (You are one smart cookie. Jack hasn't figured that one out yet.)

When you are really excited, you "do the worm" on your belly. You will drop from your position of pushing up on your hands, bury your face in the carpet and wiggle your body while flailing your arms and legs to the sides. It is pretty cute!

You hold your arms up to Mommy when you want to be picked up. It makes my heart feel happy. :)

You are really good at pressing the push and pull buttons on the pop-up toy. You are getting better at closing them, but started out with your thumb in the way and are learning that it can't be below what you are trying to close.

You are lightening fast at emptying a box of toys now. Jack has to think quickly to pick the toys he wants before you steal them all away!

I love you both so much... People are always asking me if I'm SO busy, but I can't imagine life being less exciting than it is now!

Love,
Mommy