Catch up on previous updates:
9 months out vs 9 months in.
Nine month’s old is such a fun one because that’s how long he was inside my belly and I still think that is remarkable. It has obviously been a much busier 9 months than when he was all tucked inside but it’s incredible getting to know our little one. This month he has grown in leaps and bounds; not so much physically, but in what he is able to do now. I’m going to start with the milestones this time because they are just too important to put later on.
Milestones
CRAWLING! He started off slowly but very quickly got the hang of it.
Pulling up to stand, supporting his hands or tummy on something.
Knows object permanence (ie- he looks for objects that he throws out of view)
Can look at Mama, Dada, Bongi and Khulu (grandparents) when we say the names but can only say Mama and Dada for now. He can make noises that sound like gaga, ahhh, koepka (random!), and sthhhhh. The last one comes with a lot of spit.
Responds to his own name.
He has tiny hairs on his legs and arms!
Understands the word ‘no’ but doesn’t like it.
Can play peek-a-boo by holding a bath towel up over his face and pulling it down again and again.
Extends his arms to help get his t-shirt on. This one is the cutest!
He is such a happy chappy crawling all over the place. Almost all my photos are blurry from all his movement.
The little bandit in the tupperware drawer.
Sleep
Day: Oliver takes two naps during the day, one in the morning and one in the early afternoon. Every day is different but they are anywhere from 30 minutes – 1½ hours long each. It takes about 30 minutes for him to fall asleep by himself after I read some books with him, sing him a song and pat him a couple times on the bum. Because he sleeps on the floor, he can get out of his bed and plays by the window or with his toys before he goes down. He was crawling out of the room and into Daniel’s home office (his door can’t close properly) so we put the baby gate on Oliver’s door and he sits by it and cries for me. I go in and put him back on the mattress and give him another couple pats on the bum before leaving again. I sometimes have to do this three – five times before he moans himself to sleep. The second nap he is feeding to sleep because he goes over three hours in between his two naps and I would love any suggestions of how to do this differently. I’ve tried putting him down without feeding him and he kicks up a fuss. I could try giving him a bottle but I really don’t want to have to pump during my tiny free time while he naps.
Night: Ollie fed a total of 11 times during the night (between 2-5 am) in the month of June and Daniel and I have been shattered. We were not expecting this but we totally understand that learning how to crawl is huge. Not only did he have to feed, but he would wake a few times as well, so we had a lot of broken sleep. The last week has been much better and Oliver seems to be settling back to sleeping from 8:00 pm – 6:30/7:00 am.
Isn’t a sleeping baby just the sweetest thing?! He has his new Charlie Banana cloth diaper on #collaboration
Feeding
Day: Oliver nurses from me 4-5 times a day, has one bottle (about 5oz) and eats three tiny meals. He eats oat or rice cereal for breakfast with some tiny cut up fruit pieces like blackberry or cherry. He usually has fruit for lunch like a pear + apple puree and veggies for supper. We started combinations more recently and the black bean + mango was a hit. Broccoli + cauliflower not so much.
Night: Like I mentioned above, feeding Oliver in the early morning for those 11 days was a bit of a shock but it didn’t last long so I am grateful. Every evening instead of saying goodnight to each other, Daniel and I would just say ‘good luck.’
Fun Tid Bits
You’ll find Oliver standing up at the window sill most days.
He gets in the wars 375, 821, 0526 times a day.
Oliver loves singing with us at home or at church. He just coos along to the music and his voice is angelic.
He gets overwhelmed by babies or children who are crying or being very loud.
He takes a long time to warm up to people. He will stare at you if he doesn’t know you, but will start babbling to you after a little while.
If he goes for the electrical outlet, or blinds I say a firm ‘no’ and do the sign for it. I go to pick him up to move him somewhere else and he moans at me and flings his head back in protest. It’s amazing to see his little will come out already.
Oliver can stick out his tongue and loves to try to grab mine if I stick it out.
He goes to childcare almost every day and is doing better and better. I still can’t quite get to an hour but at least I get a short exercise break and he gets to be with other kids and has exposure to all the germs.
He can play quietly by himself for short periods of time and it makes me so happy. He throws a ball around and fetches it or plays with a book by his shelves in his room or the living room (I like to think he is making up the story in his head).
We don’t have a baby play pen, but have just put up a baby gate for his room and the hallway to Daniel’s office. I want him to be free to explore as much as he can and have taken stuff out of cupboards at his level that are not appropriate.
Ollie got no new teeth this month. I guess he was busy doing other things!
Ollie loves going to the pool at the gym and chilling out in his little backyard pool. All the water for all the heat.
Mama
I joined the EE program at Y2 Yoga because I can never get to the two power classes that they have at my gym. Essentially, you work a three hour shift at the studio for unlimited yoga. This suits my schedule because they have classes around the clock so I can go when I have a gap. You clean bathrooms, take out the trash, replenish the ice, vacuum, roll savasana towels (my favorite!), do laundry, and much more. Cleaning public bathrooms has reminded me to always leave a space in the same or better condition than how I found it. It’s amazing how much mess we can make thinking that it’s someone else job to clean it up, or not thinking at all. Nevertheless, Oliver loves having the afternoon with my mom (his Bongi) and I love taking class there. I am working on all things core!
I subbed a deep stretch class for the whole month of June and loved it! I’m going to be subbing some yoga classes at the gym I go to, so I am very excited about that. It takes me quite a while to prepare for any yoga class at this early stage in my teaching journey, but it’s totally worth it.
I’m grateful for the role that Daniel plays in our family and thank God that Oliver has such an involved Dad.
Our family (iPhone) picture on Father’s Day. Oliver’s face gets me every time!
I know people always say that time flies when you have kids, but you don’t believe it ’till it’s happening. I am soaking up all of his baby-ness because it is slipping through my fingers everyday.
Happy weekend everyone!
What should I do so that I don’t have to feed Ollie to sleep for his second nap?
When did your baby crawl or walk?
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