You use the baby sign language sign for milk all the time now.
You learned to clap the other day.
Yesterday you learned that it’s fun to bang two toys together.
You’re making some new noises and you have a new face we call your “psyched face”.
You stood without holding on to anything today for about 4 seconds.
You wiggle and bend your knees when you dance.
You were on the receiving end of your first kiss last Thursday.
I’m running out of room in your baby book.
I can hardly believe we’re coming up on 9 months in a couple of weeks. You’ve been outside of my body for nearly as long as you spent inside my body! Things are a lot more interesting on the outside, I just know it.
There are so many people to play with and so many new things to discover!
You’re the most popular little guy I know. People cannot get enough of you! Including me.
As your pediatrician would say, “This is a perfectly good baby. I can think of absolutely nothing bad to say about this fine specimen.” You are a pleasure to know, to love, to be with, to care for, to tickle, to teach, to sing to, to nourish.
Thank you for filling my life up with so much joy. I feel so lucky to be alive, sharing every day with you.
Your Aunt Amy was passing through town last week and made a point to come and spend the day with you. You had a good time with her and really enjoyed checking out her pretty tattoos.
She made you a bunch of new little friends. Aren’t they adorable?
This photo is from last week at playgroup. We haven’t gone out this week because you caught your first major cold. It was only a matter of time. And oh, guess what? I caught it too. Achoo! I better get used to having a bunch of new cooties around.
Here’s a little update on what you’re doing now, at 8 months of age:
You crawl.
You like to do downward dog and pull up on the furniture.
You like to get a little too daring and end up toppling over on your noggin.
Luckily we bought you a nice, safe, pen to help keep these bumps down to a minimum. I almost bought you a helmet one day but people talked me out of it. That would’ve been so embarrassing.
Hmmm. What else do you do?
You’ll hold a sippy cup sometimes but will not hold your own bottle (ARGH!).
You can pick up and eat cheerios. You let me feed you chunks of smooshed banana by hand. You like sushi rice and avocado. You’re getting more interested in finger foods.
You say “Mama”, “Dada”, and “NANANA” (this one means NO!).
You’re turning into a little gentleman!
All these new developments are fun and everything, but can you try to slow it down a little with all this growing up?
It’s going by way too fast. I miss my little squishy sack of potatoes baby boy.
My 35th birthday and my first Mother’s Day are quickly approaching. It’s gotten me thinking about a bunch of things. I’ve been thinking about how things happen for a reason. My life hasn’t always been wonderful. But now that you are here, I feel like letting go of a ton of baggage in order to make room for enjoying my life with you. It’s time to let go of things and get over it. Because you (yes, it’s corny) make me want to be a better person.
I was always kind of waiting for something to happen to me. I would have been waiting forever, you see. Well, I made you happen and it’s the best thing I ever did. If you want something, you have to take action. Otherwise, life is just going to whiz by without you.
You give me purpose, Daniel Ziggy Chin. But more than that, you inspire me to be better and to make you proud. If that’s all I get out of life, it is enough.
You’re finally big enough for the baby swing. You seemed to enjoy this, but we aren’t entirely sure.
We’ve been taking a little break from all our social outings since your nap schedule has changed. You are always sleeping when it’s time to leave for playgroups and walks with our stroller buddies.
You learned to crawl last week. You’ve also developed some major separation anxiety. And Daddy has gone back to work so you’ve been keeping me busy, to say the least.
You’re on the move and getting into everything. You’re testing your limits and my limits. It’s part of growing up and we’ll be growing up together, now.
Good thing you’re cute. That’s all I have to say about that.
Looks like somebody’s starting to enjoy his solid foods! Hooray! Instead of having to trick you into eating off the spoon, we have reached the point where you will lunge for it and eagerly eat your apples, pears, bananas, peaches, squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, rice/oat/barley/spelt cereal and plain rice juk.
I love that you are starting to enjoy eating because me and your Daddy are major foodies (if you couldn’t tell from our chubbiness).
I didn’t used to think of food as much more than fuel til I met your Dad. He introduced me to a bunch of stuff including avocados, asparagus, sushi, eggs (I used to hate them), even ketchup and pickles! I was very close-minded, once but that got boring really fast. Life got much more exciting when I loosened up and was willing to try new things. I’m glad you’ll be exposed to all sorts of cuisines (real Chinese food, Thai, Malaysian, Japanese, Indian, Spanish, to name a few) and am hoping you’ll be willing to try anything at least once. Living with us, and having relatives that are big into good food, it’ll be pretty hard for you not to turn out to be anything but a food lover. If not, we’re going to have to double check things back at the lab.
A little leprechaun visited me this week. Oh wait, that was you! A bunch of new stuff has been happening. Besides your first St. Patrick’s Day, (yes, you are a little bit Irish!) you are getting your first tooth - bottom front, left side. You had your first fever and first cold last week. It was no fun for any of us and thank goodness you are all better now. Phew!
You are starting to figure out how to crawl. You get on all fours and rock back and forth but aren’t quite sure what to do next. You’ve been meeting more and more new baby friends. Yesterday you met Coleman and had a lot of fun! Your favorite new song that I sing to you is this one. (Quack Quack Quack Quack!)
My favorite part of each day is feeding you your morning bottle and then singing you songs and reading you a book. This morning we read ‘Green Eggs and Ham’. There is really nothing better than waking up to your sweet face. It feels like Christmas every day.
The weather has been gorgeous this week and we’ve been going out walking every day. We bring you everywhere, including restaurants and you’ve been so good. We just park you in your little booster seat and you look around watch us eat and are just as happy as can be.
I’m so glad that spring has sprung, and there are more daylight hours for us to venture out in. As it gets warmer, I cannot wait to take you to the beach, the park, anywhere and everywhere to explore and see new stuff. You make even the simplest things in life so much more exciting. Seeing the world through your eyes is like experiencing everything as if it’s all brand new again. I feel so lucky and honored that I get to share all of your firsts with you. Thank you for bringing sunshine to my life, every single day.
