Dear Nolan: 9 Months

Dear Nolan,

At the beginning of February you turned nine months old.  Nine months! Three quarters of a year! This year has just flown by, and while seeing you grow and change and learn new things is so much fun, it makes me a little sad to know you are closer to toddler now than to newborn.  You’re still my baby though; all this growing can’t change that.  We had your 9-month well-visit right on time and your Dad and I were both there;  do you think either one of use could remember to pick up the paperwork with your stats on it?  I’m pretty sure I’ve left them at every single visit we’ve had with you.  So while I don’t have the official stats I do remember a couple of things.  At 9-months you weighed in at 17 lbs, you had dropped a bit on the curve and this put you in the 5^th percentile.  Your height, though I don’t remember the measurement, was in the 10^th percentile, but had moved up on the chart.  And your heard circumference, well let’s just say this, you Konopacki boys have big heads.  It was at least 50^th percentile, something very average compared to the rest of your measurements.  I’ve been a bit concerned with these stats because I haven’t been getting as much milk as I’d like lately and I’ve been wondering if it has been affecting you, but I looked back at your brother’s letters and I see they were very similar at this nine-month stage.  You might be a bit smaller, but nothing too noticeable.

This has been a difficult month in terms of keeping you healthy. It’s winter.  You have big brothers who bring germs home.  I know this, and yet it makes me so upset when you get sick.  I just hate it.  I hate seeing our little body all stuffy and feverish and ill.  If I could do one thing this winter, it would be to keep you healthy.  Your ninth month started with an ear infection and those few nights before we were able to get you on medicine were some of the worst.  No.  No, they were the worst.  Even as a newborn we did not have such sleepless nights. They were awful. You felt awful.  The whole thing was just awful. After kicking the ear infection the house had a round of the stomach flu.  I was hoping it’d bypass you but no such luck.  We did get everyone healthy for a run of about 10 days, which was a record for the past few months!!  Of course you know what that means, at your nine-month well-visit you tested positive for Influenza B.  Because of course. We basically quarantined ourselves and braced for the worst, but thankfully (thankfully!!) it wasn’t all that bad.  All three of you boys were sick (you were definitely the worst), but it really wasn’t any worse than a cold.

 Despite all the sickness, we did have an exciting month with you.  Your big development this month was crawling!  And pulling up on everything!  And making huge messes!  Okay, that last one maybe wasn’t that exciting for us, but it was definitely exciting for you. You are so proud of yourself, as soon as I set you down you are up on all fours scrambling as quickly as possible to your bookshelf (or the coffee table, or the oven drawer, or the bathroom – which I quickly remove you from) and immediately anything in your reach is on the floor.  And then you turn and smile your big gummy smile and how can I not be happy for you too?  A mess!  Yay!

Speaking of pulling yourself up on everything, we had a parenting first at the beginning of your ninth month.  With you being our third, and our third boy, “parenting firsts” are something of a rarity.  Oh, but you Nonie, you are going to keep us on our toes.  So at the beginning of this month, just as you started pulling up on everything, your Dad and I both said that we needed to lower your crib mattress, but we hadn’t quite gotten around to it when one evening you were taking a late nap and I was in the middle of making dinner, pulling hot pans out of the oven, when I heard you stir.  I couldn’t get back there in time and your Dad was hauling things in from outside and before we knew it you had flipped yourself, head over heels, out of your crib.  Thankfully, your head landed on your boppy and you were completely fine, but your Dad and I?  I think we lost a couple of years off our life that night. 

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this in one of your previous letters, but another thing you do that I don’t remember either of your brothers doing is reading our face with your hands.  You do this mostly when you’re tired, either needing or nap or just waking up from one, your right thumb is in mouth, your head is usually turned to the side and with your left hand you feel the face of whoever is holding you, it’s as if you are reading Braille. You’ve done this for several months now, but what you’ve just recently started doing is moving your hand to yank on our ears and pinch our throat.  While I could do without the pinching, the face reading thing is pretty cute.

At nine months you love water, playing with your brothers, and petting the dog.  You hate being put in your snowsuit and your car seat. You didn’t get any new teeth this month but you did try some new foods: yams, zucchini, banana, and avocado were on the list.  You love both yams and banana. You are still wearing 6-9 months clothes and are between size 2 and size 3 diapers. You sleep pretty well normally, but all bets are off when you are sick and you seem to nap better at home than at Busha’s (not sure why).  I wish I could slow down time a bit, savor these last few baby days, but I know you’re ready to cruise through them, so instead I’m looking forward to all that is to come.

I love you sweet boy,

Mama