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| Photo by Brittnie Renee Photography |
One of my favorite things is the older Anthony gets, the more I see his personality come out. Anthony is observant. He loves learning new things and will watch closely when I teach him something, and then he will keep on trying until he figures it out. He loves exploring, but he also enjoys crawling into my lap to read a book. He is full of joy, and his sweet giggles are my favorite.
Stats
We went to the doctor the day Anthony turned nine months, and he was 18 pounds, 6.7 ounces. That’s in the 30th percentile. We were super excited to hear that because Anthony has always been low on the growth chart—at one point he was in the second percentile. He always grew well on his own curve, but we were still happy to see he is catching up a bit. My guess is he is probably closer to 20 pounds now.
Milestones
These last three months have been full of milestones! A few days after Anthony turned seven months, he started teething, and his two bottom teeth came out pretty quickly. A few days after that, he began to army crawl, and he moved to normal crawling quickly. By 7.5 months, he was moving really fast. At 8.5 months, he could go switch from crawling or laying down to sitting. On the day he turned nine months, he started consistently pulling up. Now, he does it all the time and will move from one place to another a bit while holding on. It’s pretty funny when he stands up in his pack n play and stares at me when he wakes up. Anthony’s top teeth broke through last week, so his new favorite thing is to hit his teeth against each other.
Firsts
The two big firsts I wanted to mention was Anthony’s first long road trip and his first trip to the dentist. We went to Hot Springs for our birthday and anniversary trip this year, which is about a five-hour drive. It went really well, and we had a great time on our trip! Unfortunately, on the way back, an 18-wheeler had a blowout right in front of us, and the tire struck our car. It did some damage to our car and ripped one of our tires to shreds, so we had to pull over and wait for AAA to come help Chris replace the tire (he wasn’t comfortable doing it himself because we weren’t in a safe spot). Thankfully, it all worked out, and we got home safely, but it was scary at the time. Anthony was a trooper and handled being stuck in the car for extra hours really well.
When Anthony’s teeth came in, they were super sharp, and he kept biting under his tongue and making it bleed. This created a large ulcer under his tongue that wouldn’t heal because he kept aggravating it. I ended up having to take Anthony to the pediatric dentist to smooth out his teeth, so he would stop making the ulcer bleed. I was really anxious about it because I knew he wouldn’t understand what was going on, but it went so much better than I expected. He hasn’t made the ulcer bleed since the teeth were smoothed, so I’m hoping it will fully heal soon.
Remember how I said crazy things kept happening? Those are just two examples.
Sleep
Months seven and eight were rough when it came to sleep. Anthony was waking up every two hours at night, and he decided he hated naps. He rejected his pacifier around six months, so putting him down for naps got really hard. As we were nearing the nine-month mark, I thought I was going to lose my mind from so little sleep. I talked to the doctor at his nine-month appointment, and she basically just told me some babies aren’t good sleepers, no matter what you do.
Then, all of a sudden, he turned a corner. He went from waking up every two hours to waking up at 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m., then waking up for the day between 7 and 8. Now, he usually only wakes up once between 4:30 and 5 a.m (unless he’s teething). His naps got so much better, too, especially after I worked on dropping the third nap. Right now, we usually do a 2/3/4 schedule. It’s what seems to work best for him—I’ve tried to stretch out the morning wake time, and he doesn’t like it. He’s not super consistent with how long he sleeps, but before he was sleeping through the night, he would take a two-hour morning nap and a one-hour afternoon nap. Now, it’s closer to two one-hour naps (often more like 45 minutes). I can’t even begin to explain what a huge difference his new schedule has made for us. I feel like a new person!
Food
We’ve made it ten months breastfeeding! Anthony nurses when he wakes up in the morning and a short time before bed and then in four-hour intervals throughout the day (usually after his naps). I also feed him three solid meals a day. He always says “mmmm” after each bite, which is super cute. Puffs are also a huge hit around here.
Sounds
Anthony has been blabbing for a long time, but I think he’s getting close to making associations. In the morning when he wakes up, he usually calls for me, saying “Awa!” He has been saying Dada and Baba forever, but not directly at Chris or my mom (Baba). Chris calls on his way home, and Anthony will “talk” to him. The other day I turned on a podcast during playtime, and Anthony said Dada! I think maybe he thought it was Chris since it’s usually him on the phone. He’s also good at repeating sounds. The cutest is when we’ll ask him if he’s OK, and he say “OK!” back.
Likes
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Anthony loves swimming, crawling, and pulling up on everything. His favorite toys are this Baby Einstein Octoplush (which he has loved for months), a LeapFrog activity center, this VTech Musical Rhymes Book (music and turning pages! It’s a big winner here), and the VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker. We also grabbed this cute little toucan for our upcoming plane ride, and Anthony really loves it. His favorite thing for naps is this SwaddleMe Elephant Soother. I also like looking at sites like www.wikibuy.com for baby deals! He also loves going on walks. He will sit in his umbrella stroller for as long as we let him, looking at everything. I can’t wait for it to be cooler outside, so we can spend more time walking around.
Dislikes
I’m not sure if it’s a real dislike, but Anthony has started moving so much that changing his diaper can be difficult. I can usually distract him with a toy, but I still try to make it as quick as possible. He’s also developed a bit of separation anxiety. He is pretty good at playing on his own these days, but he wants me to be in the room.
Things I Want to Remember
Anthony loves to take my hands and use them to clap.
Christopher’s favorite noise that Anthony makes is a motorboat.
He will crawl up to his activity center, pull up, turn on the music, and dance!
Anthony loves peekaboo. He will find a box or big toy and hide behind it to play.
He loves pulling up on the window in his nursery (it’s the perfect height for him) and watching the cars (and dogs) outside.
He loves throwing balls in my direction and then chasing after them, so he can throw them at me again.
Overall, I’m just loving this fun stage! Now that I’m a bit less of a mom zombie, it’s such a joy to chase Anthony around and watch his discover this world.
