9 Months Old | Baby On The Go

9 months old is such an incredible age. I am praising God for blessing me
with 3 sons and for not having to be a single mother this time around.

Nine month old babies are so active and personable that you would think they are toddlers, but they are not. At 9 months old, these babies are still infants with developmental needs that keep them our sweet, cuddly, little babies for months longer. I thank God because it is so hard to watch them grow up so quickly. We so enjoyed our baby's 8th month, but this blog post is to share some of the developmental milestones that our baby had during his 9th month; I am posting this information for other moms to use as a guide, as well as in comparison to the 9 month baby milestones that the baby experts give us. I have included our daily schedule in hope this will be helpful.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 18:10

Max did Yoga with Nina (Sprout's Goodnight Show)
The highlight of this 9th month occurred on October 5th, 2011 when our 9 month old baby lifted his arms for the yoga stretch with Nina (on Sprout's Goodnight Show). He did it twice when she instructed and we could not believe it! I made such a "whoop-ti-do" that our baby crawled to me, right afterwards, and excitedly stood up so that I could put him in my lap. I think that he was proud of himself, too, but maybe he was proud of me for noticing - LOL. It is so exciting to know that he understands what to do when he watches that stretching / yoga segment. I really struggle with his watching TV, but know that it helps with certain things as well.


Babbling / Repeating / Talking

• Would you believe that our 9 month old baby started talking to me this month He tugged his ear and said eeeeaaaaaaah a few times. My heart melted while realizing that he was talking to me. It took a few second before I realized that he was on a roll. He clumbsily touched his face and said "eyes" and "nose". It was mushy but I knew this was what he was saying because the exaggerated tone was just like when I teach him these things, therefore I touched his nose and said "Noooose" and touched my eye and said "Eye" ... He got extremely excited and kissed me as if he was rewarding me for understanding what he was talking about.


• On October 14th, our 9 month old baby said "hello" on prompt at the harvest fest at our church. It was so cute because he looked down shyly and said it just once. He is not much on saying "hello" or "hi" when we ask him to; just when he wants, therefore this was a big deal for us.


• Our baby starting singing to himself at 9 months and it was the sweetest sound that I've ever heard in my life because I love to sing (my other two boys did not do this) ... Max has a very raspy / horse voice. He sang "OOOOOOOOOOOOOh, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh". It had different tones. He made facial expressions and sometimes rocked his body back and forth as he sang. Sometimes, he shoke his head and started laughing while singing. It was almost as if he was laughing as he caught himself singing because he would stop after the head shaking part. It was so innocent and instinctive that I would stop doing anything that I was doing to watch him sing and dance.

Watching / Noticing More Things & Sense Of Humor

• Our baby found his belly button on 9/9/2011. The funny thing is that he found mine a few days earlier while we were laying in bed (we had just finished nursing). He giggled both times (probably because of my reaction). It was too cute :)


• He laughs and growls at his own fart (we call them toots).


• He loves Moose and Zee puzzles / matching games on Nick Jr. He has certain shows that he watches and likes a lot. This 9th month, he started getting cranky (sometimes growling) if we talked during his shows.


• We had to child proof a few months ago, but this month he started going for things like dirt in a crack on the ground, we patched a piece of the wall for painting and he noticed (I caught him standing at the wall picking it with his finger) and if I forgot to sweep the tile, he would spot /try to pick up anything. He swooped quickly as if he were playing Jacks.

Physical Development

• Max stood for the first time - without holding on to anything - on October 16. He is walking with the aid of furniture, legs and his walker, but has not starting walking yet (as of 10/31/2011). It looks like it will be soon.


• In addition to lifting his arms during Yoga time, he will sometimes lift his arms for "UP" when he wants us to pick him up from the high chair, crib or play area. We are trying to teach him to do this w/out fussing / crying, too.


• He waved "Hi" on prompt, but ignores us about this too. (I think we got on his nerves).
  
  
• On October 17, he started clapping on his own (without us telling him to) - saying "glaaa glaaa" (clap clap) - when he does it.


• He loves to sing and dance (rock back and forth on his own). All 3 of us (mom, dad, brother) clapped and danced with Maxwell. It was great. While dancing, he clapped when we clapped and bounced his bottom on the floor and rocked to the music. Unlike saying "hello", he will clap upon request sometimes because he loves music and dancing so much.
  
  
• At 9 months, he spends even longer periods of time in his walker and has excellent back up, side and forward control. He has an awesome 3 point turn at this age :)
  
  
• He fought us each time we changed his diaper. He has actually been doing this for months, but we started giving him his tooth brush so that he does not take off like before. He started grabbing his private area every time I changed his diaper. I was as non challant as possible but he would growl and / or laugh when I asked him to move his hand so I could close the diaper. This was not a lot of fun when he had a poopy diaper :(
  
  
• He sat nicely in his playpen / pack n play and matted play area. Every once in a while, he throws a fit to get out, but can lay alone for over an hour sometimes.

Food / Eating / Drinking

Our 9 month baby has stopped eating green beans (he even refused them even when mixed with some chopped up french cut green beans). That is one baby food down. On the contrary, he has developed a HUGE appetite for spaghetti, crackers, water in a sippy cup and just about everything he can get his hands on around the house. He tried to use his spoon at 9 months, though still preferred that we feed him. He does still nurse (mostly first thing in the morning, if he wakes at night and once or twice a day if he gets really cranky and digs my shirt), but he likes Soy formula and drinks water in his sippy cup.


Daytime Schedule / Night time Schedule

Since he finally started sleeping through the night, a decent schedule was developed by 9 months. He sometimes gets up for a bottle or to nurse around 4 or 5:00 a.m. but could sleep through the night until around 7:00am if I put him to bed around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m.

Our typical daily schedule:

• Get up between 6:30 and 8:00 (typically around 7:00 a.m.).
  
  
• He likes to watch Baby Einstein (Disney Channel) or The Sunny Side Up Show on the Channel. He likes Barney if we start later. He sometimes wants a bottle at this time if he did not want to nurse as soon as he woke up; other times he just wants to relax alone and watch this show.
  
  
• After this time he is ready to eat and start playing. He has usually pooped just before or right after breakfast). He plays hard for hours. He plays well alone and with us. He is extremely physical during this time, therefore he uses the walker, crawls out of his pack and play or matted play area, walks along furniture and I sometimes walk him outside.
  
  
• He is ready for a nap between 11:00 a.m and 12:00pm (usually after Sesame Street on PBS and / or Sprout). He typically wants rocked to sleep.
  
  
• He gets up between 1:00pm and 2:00pm, and is very pleasant.
  
  
• He likes to play or watch TV again before he eats. This is not long because he is usually ready to eat lunch soon after waking up.
  
  
• After lunch, we will play for hours. He reads with me for short periods of time, he is very physical, so he uses his walker and likes crawling, walking along furniture and sitting to play with electronic toys. Max enjoys walks in his stroller or just sitting outside and watching cars.
  
  
• He usually naps again between 3:45 p.m. and 5:30pm. This is usually not a long nap (about an hour; sometimes two hours). Diaper change again.
  
  
• He is ready to eat and play again. I keep him up until 10:00pm - 11:00pm (sometimes 9:30pm), so that we have a better possibility that he will sleep through the night. I found that it helps if I take a bottle to bed. He will sometimes take that instead of wanting to nurse again (anywhere between 3:35 and 5:00pm). He will go back to sleep and is up for the day around 7:00 a.m.

OK, so there you have it. This was what our baby did at 9 months old.

At 9 months old, our baby was an energetic bundle of joy that kept us busy daily. Although my husband and I work from home, my husband picked up a temporary job to supplement our income, so that I was not stressed about the holidays and needing to increase work. With our 9 month baby being so active, I was not able to take on any more clients these past few months; just retain and maintain the accounts that I had. This was great for my existing clients because they got all of my extra work time. I knew that it would be like this because I've had children before, therefore I did eliminate some inconsistent accounts a few months ago. Yet, I really appreciate that my husband wanted to make sure that we would not struggle during Christmas, New Year and Tax season because we will travel to see family / friends during these times. It is likely they will visit us, too. I never had this type of support or potential for a "cushion" when I was a single mother, therefore I work my business diligently during the times that Max is napping and / or playing well alone, as well as when my husband is home from work.

I praise God for making all things possible that I never could have imagined nor believed that I wanted in life (a husband, another baby, living in a new state, homeschooling, etc). I hope that you enjoyed this blog post and that it is helpful to moms that are looking forward to their 9 months baby milestones. Please feel free to share your experiences and comment below :)

In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child

Boy, I Am Not Lois Griffin - Mommy Mama Ma Ma - Take That Game To Your Room!

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I'm not promoting Family Guy, but this little video clip is something that all mothers should see (watch video above) ... Moms, can you relate? I sure can. My baby does this in the mornings while trying to wake us up and sometimes during the day. He gives us a repetitive "da da da da da"and "maaaa maaaa maaaa" ... it is still cute!

This is not the point of my blog post today ...

Babies do this to get our attention because they cannot communicate any differently. They are expressing their need for an adult to help them (pick up, feed, hug, etc.). As boys are maturing, some of them do this same thing to getting a rise out of their mothers (play, show affection, etc.). You have to draw a line and redirect this to the proper verbal and physical actions if you notice that it is happening.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. ~ Psalm 68:5 (NIV)

I was a single mom with my first two boys (until my second son was 10) and my older son used to do this all of the time. Really! Not at the same annoyance level as this "Mommy Mama Ma Ma Ma Ma" that Stewie Griffin is exemplifying in this video, though he did do it well into his 2nd year of High School. By that time, it was a group of boys, spitting chewing tobacco and laughing when I said "ewe" and that I did not want it in my house, as well as numerous other rebellious scenarios. As I think back to when he was a very little boy, there was a crazy number of "booty booty" pinches I received while climbing the steps ... many farts I have ducked from room to room (gave them back to him, too) ... many burping competitions I attended ... sometimes I even received a soft kick in the buttocks (out of the blue) to "grind my rails". I can now burp, fart, catch and flip a leg faster than the average mom because my older son teased and taunted so much. I just took it as the way he chose to show affection, but that it came to an end when he started wanting to wrestle me in his middle school years and then more challenges came in the early teen years.

My boys are like oil and vinegar, therefore I understand that each child is different. Take what you need from my experiences or share with another mom if this does not apply to your family.

My younger son did not do the same. He did not take to burping, farting and whacking me unless he was trying to chime in with what he thought was play between his brother and me. On the other hand, he did try to show affection like this with his older brother. It was not accepted well by the older sibling and this is how I learned that this was an overall problem in our household. Regardless, my middle son was the child in that video. He used to repeat what he wanted over and over and over and over - throughout a day / week / month - even though I said "NO". He always questioned why he did not get his way. He would question until it started a fight with me. I did get this under control while he was in grade school, for the most part, but he still tries to use this tactic to get his way. I nipped it in the bud by letting him know that I am not going to argue with him and then send him out of the room with me (sometimes it is a case of until he has calmed down). He does not dare try to wrestle with me and only goes but so far in arguing a point. This is how it is right now. I will have to update this once he's in high school.

Why do boys do this to mom? Is it a normal part of their development?

As the stereotypes of what a boy or what man should be (depending on the boy child's age) set into their personalities, boys still want the same loving attention from mom. The problem is that some boys think is a "cool" or "manly" to behave as I have explained because they are immature and because some of us let them. They gravitate towards these behaviors instead of just giving mom a hug or snuggling like when they were younger children. My older son did still hug me and want to lay his head on my arm while watching TV on the couch. This was good, but the other actions came across as signs of affection when they were actually inappropriate and I should have redirect the playful signs of affection to the typical ways instead of burping and farting with him or letting him give me "love taps" as he was developing. It was cute at first, though became REALLY annoying and then led to some challenging situations when he became a teen. I used to laugh at it as harmless play and make sure to let him know when he is getting too hyped up or out of line with what is acceptable to me. I should have not laughed and set boundaries when it continued though grade school. I was a single mother at that time and do think that some of his behavior was his showing "love" to me. On the other hand, most often it was his goal to get a rise out of me; my son was testing his position as a male and also boundaries with me. He has always done the same thing to my mother. It is hard to determine whether or not it would have been this way if his Grandfather was there because my step-father died at the beginning of his Kindergarten year. I can share that my younger son rarely challenges like this and it might be the influence of his step-father in his life.

I wanted to share this experience in case you are noticing similar characteristics in your son(s); especially single moms trying to raise boys on your own. It is not that I did not try to turn my son's behaviors into hugs, kisses, conversations about what upset him, etc. It is just that I did not stick with it and thought that feeding into his behavior and playing back was the way to make him hug, kiss and keep the lines of communication open with me. I now understand that a mother needs to get this behavior "in check" as soon as possible else the boy will carry it over to how he interacts with you later in life. You are also putting girls and other female adults (grandmother, teachers, etc) at risk for the same treatment. Although it appears to be playful and expressions of love, it can become a form of manipulation and the way a little boy attempts to control situations and women as he becomes an adult.

Kindly make your son turn those burps, farts, love taps and temper tantrums into hugs, kisses and respectful conversation. Do not play back with him in this fashion because he does not see it as you intend it to be. Send him out of the room and only permit him back when he apologizes and lets it go on his own. Just remember that "I'm sorry" means that we are regretful for an actions and that we do not intend to do it again. Do not let your little boy keep apologizing for the same behaviors ... get some professional help if you notice that developing pattern.

Do you have advice on this subject or a similar situation to share? Let is know in the comment section of this blog post. You will help another mom raise a better man.



In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child