Oh my goodness! Rowan turns 9 months old on Wednesday and I’m truly in disbelief. My snuggle bug is getting bigger each and every day while I’m left wondering where the time goes. The jump from 6 months to 9 months has been huge and one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching and experiencing with my favorite little person. Rowan has really started to come into his own as a baby and is busier than ever! I thought I’d share a few thoughts on 9 months with Rowan. I know I’ll look back at this post in the months to come with astonishment because I know only more growth and development is around the corner. There have been ups and downs but; overall, I couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful 9 months with Rowan!
9 Months with Rowan
I feel like babies hit a real turning point at 6 months. They start eating solids at 6 months (if they haven’t already started in the previous month or two), they start sitting confidently on their own, they start recognizing their favorite peoples faces, and just all around start showing signs of inching closer to being 1-years-old. 6 months felt like a milestone too because, at the time, I couldn’t believe Rowan was already half a year old! 6 months to 9 months has flown by!
Without a doubt, 6-9 months has been my favorite age to experience so far. Rowan is still completely and totally a snugly little baby but he’s also growing more sturdy and confident in his little body and has become so much more aware of this surroundings. Here are a few of my favorite recent things that have made me love the time leading up to the 9 month mark and just generally 9 months of age…
Affection
Affection! Oh my gosh, Rowan is showing so much affection and it makes me feel like my heart is going to explode into a million tiny pieces. He shows affection through things like hugging me back while I hug him (not just holding on), reaching out for me with a smile on his face, giggling when I blow kisses on his belly, and looking up at me while he nestles into my arms. I love his little bursts of affection so much. They truly make my days. It’s wonderful to feel that he knows I’m his mom. He is mine and I am his. I’ve known this but I adore the feeling of knowing that he knows this too.
I also love that he shows these same signs of affection for other people he loves including Edwin and my parents. It is marvelous! He smiles big big smiles when he sees faces he knows and wants to be around like my brother, a sitter we love, and a few of our friends he sees frequently. Rowan’s smiles are my kryptonite.
Solids
Solids. For a boy who lost weight for the first few weeks of his life, then struggled to put on weight for awhile after he got back to his birth weight, and was also not a ferocious milk drinker (quite the opposite!) for months, he really made up for lost time with solids. Rowan LOVES to eat. Since we really struggled to get enough milk in him for the first few months of his life, I was nervous that we’d face a similar situation with solids. I was fully prepped to immerse myself in reading and videos on advice + tips and tricks for how to get babies to eat solids. Rowan surprised us all with absolutely loving solids. He eats every single thing I put in front of him with the exception of avocados (which he has recently started to eat when mixed in with other things).
I’m going to write a post on the first few months of Rowan eating solids because, every time I post pictures of him eating solids on Instagram, I receive a bunch of questions about what he’s eating. Are solids a mess? You betcha! But they are also fun! I’ve really enjoyed seeing my baby become more of a little person with his eating.
Teeth
Teeth, or I should say, tooth!? Rowan has a tooth! It is adorable. It is one of his front two teeth on his bottom gum and it is just the cutest. When I touch it with my finger he lights up in a smile. Wow, my baby is inching closer to toddlerhood. He has had his solo tooth since he was about 7.5 months old and no other teeth have popped up so we’ll see when he gets a few more teeth to fill out his precious smile. Teeth popping up are bittersweet because I’m loosing my baby but it’s also a joy watching him grow into a toddler.
Blah Blah Blah
Blah Blah Blah! Rowan is expressing himself verbally soooooo much. He is playing around with his consonants and vowels and stringing together lots of sounds. He is also experimenting with pitch and different levels of his voice, which was particularly fun on our recent airplanes to and from California (ha!). I watch him “talk” and can’t help but wonder what is going through his mind and what new connections are being made in his brain.
Observations
Observations. Between 6 and 9 months, Rowan has started to clearly observe the world around him. He reaches to touch everything within his grasp. He quickly follows up touch with taste and tries to put everything within reach into his mouth. And he looks around everywhere and will pause and get fixated on something that captures his attention. I tell him all the time that I love his curiosity and inquisitive nature. Babies are all curious, I know Rowan isn’t unique in this way, but I hope he never looses these traits as he grows up.
Crawling in Circles
Crawling in circles, around and around and around. Rowan loves to crawl in circles, essentially staying in the same place but going around and around. If he is covering ground, he is rolling from back to tummy continuously. Rowan hasn’t figured out how to crawl forwards and backwards yet. We shall see if he becomes a crawler or if he kind of moves through and skips that stage. I can’t wait to watch!
Moms out there, what stage are your littles at? What is your favorite age? What amazing things are you observing? These littles of ours are so fantastic! I’m learning so much from Rowan everyday.
