9 months!

Dearest Colton,

How appropriate that April was the busiest month we’ve had in a while as it was also your most progressive month so far!  While you aren’t completely crawling yet, you can get from one side of a room to the other in a matter of seconds!  You have this odd Army crawl, scoot, roll maneuver that seems to be working well for you.  We often let you play on the floor when we’re watching television and your first destination is always to the equipment under the television.  Your daddy claims that it’s the engineer inside of you : )

Your sleep habits only seem to be getting worse and we’re just dumbfounded.  Morning naps are completely out of the question these days and your afternoon nap is about 30-45 minutes long.  Some claim that it’s just your style.  And I would be total accepting of that if you made it through the day on just 30-45 minutes worth of napping.  But you don’t.  You get very crabby at the end of the day when you haven’t slept well and that tells me that you should be sleeping more during the daytime.  Adding to our confusion is the fact that you take both a morning and an afternoon nap for Ms. Stephanie – and she has to wake you up from your nap!!!  I will definitely be asking your pediatrician about this at your checkup in a few days!  In better sleeping news, you still sleep 11 straight hours during the night!!!

You have another tooth coming through – the lower right incisor!  Which brings me to my next point:  No, I don’t want you to be a girl.  And, no, I’m not a hippy.  But I’ve been asked recently simply because you’re wearing a necklace.  It’s a teething necklace made from amber and you’ve been wearing it for the last few weeks as we attempt to help you with the pains from your new teeth.  Amber is a natural analgesic and, when worn on the skin, it releases healing oils.  Unfortunately, you can’t tell me if it’s helping or not.  Even if it’s not helping, it sure does look cute on you and you aren’t bothered by it one bit.  Dad & I aren’t big fans of medication, which is why we’re trying this instead.  Other teething remedies around our house have included wet wash cloths, frozen waffles, and your brother’s arms.  Unlike your brother (who once woke up with 4 brand new teeth!), you seem to cut teeth slowly so you could be sporting this style for awhile. 

Those teeth, combined with a few other factors, contributed to us weaning this week.  Today is the first day that you haven’t nursed with me and this is just plain difficult.  It’s hard both physically and emotionally and I pray that it’s the best decision for us.  You will now get 4 formula bottles per day (@ 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm) and you basically feed yourself as you can now hold the bottles without our help.  But that doesn’t mean I won’t take the opportunity to rock you while giving you a bottle.  That time to me is just precious!   

This update wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention the lovely sounds that you’re learning to make.  You are such a talker – especially in the car – and you talk to your brother more than anyone else.  We hear “dadada” and “mum” from you often but you say all sorts of things to Jackson.  I love when we’re riding in the car and you two will be talking and then Jackson will start laughing and exclaim, “Did you hear that?  He said ‘gaga da ba uh’.  What a goofball!”  Ms. Steph even said that you tell her “E-e-e-e!” when you see your lunch! 

Even with my whining about your sleep habits, I hope you can tell what a joy you are!  We are so in love with your drooly grin, blue eyes, and pudgy belly!