Nine Months!!

Sawyer is 9 months old (because I've delayed writing this post, he's now almost 10 months).  Oh, my sweet baby Sawyer, I LOVE YOU.

A lot has changed with our little boy in the last two months.  Every day he's becoming less and less of a baby, and more and more of a little boy.  Most notably, Sawyer has become mobile.  He crawls over, under, and around anything and anyone he chooses.  Jonathan often calls him a little soldier because Sawyer still uses his elbows and knees to crawl while dragging his adorable, bloated mid-section along the floor.  He has been experimenting with proper crawling positions more lately, but his attitude is, "Yea, I get it, but why change the status quo?  I like dragging my belly anyway."  I like it too!  After Sawyer eats, I let him crawl across the carpet to wipe off any remaining food particles from his outfit.  The same concept works with his drool.  If he stops to play with a toy for a moment, undoubtedly a puddle of drool will pool beneath him.  But do I rush to sop it up?  No! No need. Sawyer will just soak it up with his belly when he moves on to his next exploration.  Sawyer's drool also has a polishing effect on hardwood floors (ehhh....)!  Sure my carpet isn't what it used to be, but it's more than worth it to see Sawyer set off on his own in search of the thing he wants, instead of whining for me to get it for him!

This new mobility has, of course, made Sawyer more interested in everything dangerous in the world instead of the mountain of toys he has to play with.  Every other minute I find Sawyer biting a cord, putting his fingers near outlets, our picking something off the floor to put in his mouth. The other day, I watched him contentedly sucking his thumb,  but after more than a minute of undistracted, super-passionate, uber-slobbery sucking I went in for a closer look, and found that it was not thumb, but rather a battery that was commanding his attention so thoroughly.  Great.  He also often slams his fingers in drawers or closes them in cabinets.

Stairs!  Sawyer plans to conquer these soon.

Sawyer loves to explore.  He will go off on his own, but always looks back to make sure I am close by.    Somedays his attachment is extreme and he isn't happy unless I'm sitting on the floor while he plays. Sawyer will play across the room, but will return to get a cuddle or sit on my lap every so often.  It's really sweet, and I try to appreciate it, but sometimes, when I have a lot of stuff to do...or rather, a lot of stuff I want to do, it's...annoying.  But that sweet little face melts my heart, so I often stay just where I am.  When it gets really, really bad, like when Sawyer is a basket case and can't decide if he wants to be held or wants to play on the floor, but no matter what he needs his mother and she cannot leave the room for any reason whatsoever, I will gate him in the living room and go into the kitchen to do the dishes. Horror! Sawyer desperately crawls to the gate as fast has his little arms will drag his chubby body, cranes up is neck, and wails as if I committed an unforgivable atrocity that has left him heartbroken and his world shattered.   It's pitiful.  It's pathetic.  And it's over as soon as I step back over the gate and return to my designated post on the floor.  Ahhh...relief.

Out on an adventure!  But wait, where's mom?

Sawyer plays games now!  His favorite is to be chased while his parents pretend to be cannibalistic, howling, growling, and gnashing our teeth.  Sawyer responds best when I'm as violent as possible (he definitely gets it from the Barden side--we took rough-housing to a new level when I was a kid).  Sawyer squeals with true delight when, as he's crawling away, we grab his ankles, pull him close, and go on to tickle his belly with our teeth.  He also enjoys clapping, bouncing, and shaking his head back and forth.  Playing with me and his reflection in the mirror also offers 30 minutes of entertainment at a time! On a quieter day, Sawyer also enjoys a more cerebral game of peek-a-boo.



Sawyer may look a lot like me, but he definitely gets his personality from his dad.  Although Sawyer is very happy, he's not a smiley baby.  He smiles, for sure, but he doesn't smile on command.  Something must be genuinely pleasing for this kid to crack a smile.  And you have to really, really earn a laugh (unless he's punchy from exhaustion).  When he meets new people he gives them a sweet grin and then coyly rests his head on my shoulder, as if to say, "Aw...shucks. I'm not THAT cute."  It's adorable.  He's happiest when he is around people.  The more people the better for Sawyer.  Sawyer also has an angry side.  He viscously throws toys out of his way when he doesn't like or doesn't want them.  He growls.  Bears his teeth.  Balls his fists.  And cries out in frustration when things don't go his way.  It's really rather cute, for now.

Sawyer always smiles when...

swinging...

eating...

and bathing!

Sawyer also seems to be a bit of a tender soul.  His feelings can be hurt now, especially by Jonathan.  If  Jonathan gives him a stern look or talks to him in an authoritative voice, Sawyer becomes genuinely sad.  His bottom lip curls under.  Tears well up in his little blue eyes.  And then, after a moment of breathless agony, a plaintive weep escapes his lips.  He's soothed by a loving embrace and reassuring words that we love him very much.  I also make him cry in this way when I yell at him or smack him for biting me...which deserves it's own paragraph:

Sawyer has developed a very nasty biting habit.  He bites all the time.  He's happy, he bites.  He's hungry, he bites.  He's tired, he bites.  Seriously, it's getting out of control.  I think he might be teething some molars, I'm not sure.  But whatever is going on with him, I'm suffering major bruises and some under the skin bleeding from it.  I've tried dealing with it in a number of ways, but to be honest, sometimes I just react out of instinct, and end up smacking, yelling at, and spanking him.  Not good.  Mostly because it doesn't work, but also because afterward I'm wracked with guilt.  I don't hurt him, at least not physically, but still...He doesn't get that he's hurting me.  And when I punish him, he doesn't understand it's because he's biting me, because he just goes in immediately for another chomp.  I'm hoping he'll grow out of it soon.  So far, he hasn't bitten any children, but I know the day will soon come.  Any suggestions on how I can fix it?  Check out my battle scars.  Look closely you will see fresh bites and old bruises:

The biggest news is that Sawyer is finally sleeping through the night: 6 pm to somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30am!  Not an ideal schedule, because I am not an early riser.  Getting up before, say, 8am feels like, like, I am rising from the dead, instead of from a restful night's sleep.  But I'm learning to go to bed earlier!  And I have to admit that uninterrupted sleep does a body good.  Sawyer also seems to be a happier baby because of the extra z's.  For all you mothers out there waiting for the sweet day when you can get 8 straight hours of sleep again, I promise, it's closer than you think.

Hmmm....what else?

• Sawyer LOVES brushing his teeth.  He lets me brush his teeth forever.  It's a pleasure for him.
• Sawyer has developed a taste for meat.  I've finally started giving him meat.  Somehow, I felt like I would be corrupting him if I fed him meat, but I'm over that now.  It's a good thing, because Sawyer is without a doubt a carnivore.  Really, he eats anything.  The other day he ate a full helping of Brussels Sprouts without a single protest.
• Sawyer still loves the bath, and now that he crawls, the tub has become a wondrous playground for him.  
• Sawyer is starting to combine consonants and vowels to form word-like sounds.  His favorite combo: dat.  Jonathan pretends that he's actually saying, "Dad."  I go along with it, because it makes him happy.  He really is saying "Dad", I think, but I don't like to admit it.
• Sawyer weighs around 26lbs and wears size 18months clothes.  He's hefty, but he's been slimming down a bit since he started crawling.  We want him to stay nice and fat, so I've considered starting to feed him a pad of butter every morning for breakfast.

Ok.  Nine months down!  A lifetime to go.  We love Sawyer.  We love his cuddles.  We love his coos. We love everything about him. He's changed so much in just nine months, and we can't even imagine what our little guy will be like in another nine!