The Paul + Charity Show

Elijah James, You are 9 months old!

My goodness Elijah, it has been another month of watching you grow and learn new skills. Once you mastered crawling last month, you immediately started pulling up on everything. You love standing at the coffee table, your toys, and at mama’s cooler. At school you like to stand at the table or the rocking chair. Your balance is getting better and you are able to move your weight from one object to another while you stand. You are also taking small steps when you climb up on something that moves, like the kitchen chair. For a while there when you were done standing you would start fussing. Now you can sit down on your own or lower yourself to your knees. You seem to focus extra hard when you are ready to be done standing and it is pretty cute. You are also interested in climbing stairs. Just the other day, with mama close by, you climbed 5 stairs! Papa and I agree, you are fearless!

You are still talking up a storm and everyone around you thinks that you are actually saying words. At school your teachers tell me that it sounded like you said “all done” one day or called your teacher Ms. Barbara by her first name. At home it sounds like you have been saying “papa”. But mostly you’re just making a lot sounds. You love it when we mimic the sounds that you make.

Elijah, you now have 6 teeth! Four on the top and 2 on the bottom. You have started drooling a lot more, so we would not be surprised if you are working on more teeth. You enjoyed trying lots of new food this month like yogurt, kiwi, French toast, steak, turkey, hamburger, sausage, curried veggies, mashed potatoes, chocolate pudding, and stuffing.

Elijah, you are just a happy guy. You typically only fuss when you are tired or hungry. You love climbing on mama and papa. Your favorite toys are your sit and stand, music table, and mama’s blue cooler. You especially like when you can make loud noises while standing at table. You will bang a toy, a sippy cup, or anything else you can find. You enjoy watching Charlie and these days you think her collar is your toy. You love standing at her bed and pulling on the tags that dangle from her collar. You also enjoy watching the washer and dryer do their thing.

During your 9^th month of life you came down with your first fever. This was pretty hard on mama and papa as we were so worried about you. You ended up not getting to celebrate your 1^st Halloween which was sad. It took you a day and a half to kick that fever. You were pretty cuddly while sick which was sweet, but mama and papa were happy once you were back to yourself.

A typical day in your 9^th month of life looks like this: You wake up between 3:45am – 5am. If you wake up closer to 3:45am you get a bottle and go back to sleep. If it is after 4am you get a bottle and start your day. If you are not up, then mama wakes you up around 5am. You and mama head to school around 5:30am and quite often you will take a little snooze in the car. We get to school between 6:15-6:30am. As soon as you get to school you love crawling all over the room. You have a few favorite things you like to do each morning. You love standing at the kid’s table and scooting the little chairs around, you love knocking over the two popper toys (one at a time), and you enjoy pulling out all of the sensory bottles so that you can shake them. It is fun for mama to see you so comfortable in your classroom. You also have a little buddy, Wyatt who is just 6 days younger than you. You guys are often spotted playing together. Mama typically picks you up from school between 3pm and 3:30pm. You fall asleep within the first 15 minutes of the car ride home. Once we get home, mama transfers you to your crib and you will sleep for around 2-2.5 hours. You are catching up on all that sleep you do not get at school. Mama and Papa wake you up at 6pm so you can eat and play for a little bit. At 7pm you start your bedtime routine with papa.

During your 9^th month of life you hung out with your PEP friends, enjoyed special time with mama while papa was in Berlin, celebrated Thanksgiving with your school friends and families, attended your first Seahawks game, and flew to Iowa to see family and celebrate Thanksgiving.

During your 10^th month of life, we think you are looking forward to: celebrating advent, your holiday break, and celebrating your first Christmas!

Here are a few photos and videos from your 9th month of life:

You love playing with the table & chairs at school

Pulling yourself up on your bouncer

Climbing on mama

Eating kiwi

You love playing at your activity table

Reading!

Enjoying your Sit & Stand toy

More food went on the floor than in your mouth

Playing with Charlie's collar

You and your school buddy Wyatt playing with gourds

Every morning you enjoy knocking these poppers over

Family Thanksgiving lunch at school!

Taking photos with mama

Now that you're standing, your getting into everything!

A rare occurrence, but you were sleeping at school

Family photo before the Seahawks game!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Playing with Auntie Destiny & Uncle Kevin

Playing with your cousin Eleanor

Eating your Thanksgiving dinner with your cousin!

One afternoon, we all bundled up for a walk to the park

Cousin time!

Play time at the Ames Library

Elijah James, you are 8 months old!

What a wonderful month you have had! You are learning new skills all the time. During your 8th month you mastered crawling. You went from "hopping" along and sprawling out like superman to speed crawling around the house within a couple of weeks. Once you had crawling down, you immediately started pulling yourself up on everything around you. You particularly love the blue cooler that mama uses and papa's childhood stool. Mama and Papa have been amazed. You often pull up on something and sit on your knees, but you also like standing up on your feet while holding on to something.

You have started to chat more with us this month. You say "dadada" quite often, which of course Papa likes to take credit and say that is your first word. Other sounds you make sound like "I did it," "that," "yes". You are definitely talking to us so much more.

Elijah, you are now the proud owner of 4 teeth! You have two on bottom and two on top. These last two teeth have been harder for you to cut than the first two. You've had some cranky moments, but mama and papa understand. You've woken up a few times in the middle of the night and have been moaning. It breaks mama and papa's heart to see you in any kind of pain.

These days, you enjoy crawling all over us. You pull yourself up and grab at hair, beards, noses and glasses. You enjoy banging your toys on the floor, throwing toys around, and investigating them. You also love trying to get into things that you shouldn't, such as Charlie's water bowl and any kind of cord you can find. You tried corn, green beans, and peas this month. Your favorite food is still sweet potato.

Your sleep during your 8th month has been great at home. You routinely sleep through the night, only waking up a few nights when your teeth hurt a lot. You also nap great for us on the weekends. Unfortunately you are still not a great sleeper at daycare, we think you just want to be apart of the action.

You have been busy during your 8th month.You went to your first art show to support our friend Tom, celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, you enjoyed Halloween with your PEPS friends, and went to a pumpkin patch. You also had a few special days with just mama because papa went to Chicago for work.

During your 9th month of life, we think you are looking forward to: Attending your first Seahawks game, your first Thanksgiving, and visiting with family in Iowa.

Here are a few photos and videos from your 8th month of life: