This boy.  I’ll tell you – guys, he has just stolen my heart.  Every smile, every giggle, every sloppy kiss planted on my chin, all make me more and more his, forever.  He is just the happiest, sweetest baby and it is such a privilege to watch him grow.

The biggest thing this month was Nugget’s second vacation (seriously, two vacations in nine months – the kid’s doing alright), which involved his first airplane flight and his first Thanksgiving.  He did as well as I could possibly have hoped for on the plane.  No napping, of course, because Nugget doesn’t do that sort of thing.  But I made sure to be feeding him during takeoff and landing, which helped with his ears, and with a full belly he was a happy little traveler for the rest of the flights.  He giggled, played with toys, and when he got restless we walked up and down the aisles.  I would have loved it if he’d have conked out for an hour or so on at least one of the flights, but of course he didn’t help me out there.  No matter – he charmed everyone on the flights and I got lots of compliments about how well-behaved he was.  Keeping him happy was a lot of work, and the flights weren’t the most relaxing I’ve ever had, but it was well worth the effort for the smooth flights.

As he was when we went to North Carolina in July, Nugget was a champ all throughout the trip to Colorado.  He had a few rough nights as he got adjusted to the altitude, and we were both a bit tired as a result, but he’s such a good baby that I doubt anyone but me noticed that he wasn’t completely himself.  He loved checking out the Christmas lights in Boulder and Estes Park and spotting trees and animals in Rocky Mountain National Park.

 

I know I am a broken record, but I just can’t stop singing the praises of my sweet, good-natured boy.  He fits in so well with our family – it’s amazing how complete we feel now that he’s in our lives.  He’s just such a joyful, happy little fella.

Nugget at 9 Months

Weight: 16 pounds, 3 ounces – not much gain from last month.  He’s under the third percentile for weight – following in big sister’s footsteps, sigh.  Why do I make these absurdly tiny children?  He’s a good eater, but I think his no-nap policy may be catching up with him.  We’re going to bump up the foods we’re offering and see if we can’t pack a couple more pounds on him in the coming months.

Height: 27.25 inches – he didn’t shrink from last month, so clearly my measurement was off.  Well, I warned y’all.

Clothing Size: 9 months, quite comfortably.  Expect this answer to be the same for awhile.

Sleep: We continue to have our good nights and bad nights.  For most of our vacation, Nugget was back to nursing every two hours, newborn-style.  I think it was a combination of the unfamiliar environment (scary when you’re little!) and the high altitude (extra hydration needed) – but he wasn’t the best sleeper on vacation, even for him.  Since coming home he’s pretty much snapped back into his usual routine, but with more fussing at bedtime, and the occasional bouts of crying around 10:00 p.m. (that’s new).  He’s back to eating pretty much once a night, which is very doable for me at this point.  (More than that and I start to fray a little at the edges.)  As for naps, he continues to be the world’s worst napper, and even lap naps are getting harder to come by.  Dad got a couple in Colorado – so snuggly – and he’s lap-napped for me a few times since, but it’s getting harder and harder to nurse him to sleep and then keep him asleep in the afternoon.  Daycare doesn’t try that hard to get him to nap, because he’s so good-natured and easygoing that he will just play happily all day long, without a rest.  If he doesn’t start gaining weight a little more quickly, though, we may need to come up with a new plan – but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Likes: Hugs and cuddles from Mom and big sister, dancing to the Laurie Berkner Christmas CD, the way Dad’s “lion noises” ruffle his hair, sneak-watching “Clifford the Big Red Dog” on the iPad (Peanut’s current viewing of choice) during dinner.

Dislikes: I think it’s safe to say he’s not a big fan of his snowsuit.

Favorite Toys: Well, the absolute favorite toy this month isn’t actually Nugget’s toy – it’s Dad’s.  Both Peanut and Nugget think that BB-8 is the best thing they have ever seen.  (#thisisthedroidyourelookingfor).  But leaving BB-8 aside, Nugget has gotten really into playing with the Green Toys school bus – he loves to drive it around the family room floor – and he’s developed a loving relationship with a Crocodile Creek playground ball that looks like the planet Earth.  Funnily enough, I bought the ball for Peanut – I thought we could work on learning continents, HA HA – and bought Nugget a different playground ball with a rocket ship design.  Peanut has no interest whatsoever in her globe ball, but she stole Nugget’s rocket ship ball immediately; Nugget, meanwhile, couldn’t care less about the rocket ship ball but you can’t pry the globe ball away from him.  Who’d have thunk?  Well, they’re both enjoying the balls I bought for them, just not exactly as I had pictured.

Milestones: The major milestones, I talked about above – first plane flight, first Thanksgiving.  As far as developmental milestones go, he’s soooo close to moving.  He’s been doing a fair amount of rolling around to get from one place to the next, and it’s only a matter of time before he either crawls or pulls up and starts cruising.  (I’m still predicting that he will skip crawling and go straight to cruising, but I could be wrong.  BB-8 is a powerful crawl motivator.)  He’s also doing lots of clapping (my heart, my heart, soooooooo cute) and is starting to repeat sounds, even making a few noises that have sounded like words (up, egg and uh-oh) – although I’m not counting them as first words because I don’t believe he knew what he was saying.  I think he’s poised to make some big strides in the next few months.

Quirks: Nugget is a lover, not a fighter.  Ha, ha, no, really.  Especially when it comes to me, he’s actually aggressively affectionate.  One evening, while we were out in Boulder, he attacked my face with so much slobbery love that my brother told us to get a room.  Ha!  He loves his dad and sister, of course, but he saves the really over-the-top affection for me.  Fortunately I’m pretty into him, too.

Happy nine months, sweet baby man!  I’m so glad you’re here.