Dancing Commas: Nine months with Silas...

"I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be."
-Robert Munsch

It seems we have finally found our rhythm this month. We are living into our daily and weekly routines, and they feel good. We're definitely on the move, trying to stay one step ahead of our now very mobile baby.

What's Silas up to?
Silas is learning new things everyday. This month he learned to clap, pull himself to sitting, crawl on his hands and knees, and pull himself up to standing. After watching him on the monitor one night as he pulled himself up to his knees and peered over the edge, Daddy ran in there to get him and vowed not to let him sleep in there until we lowered the mattress the next day.

Silas' teachers say that he "found his voice" this month. They commented about how uncharacteristically loud he has become... and stubborn, apparently one morning he refused to drink his first bottle because his regular teacher was absent. Sometimes at the dinner table, he will scream with his whole body like a crazy baby, and then stick his thumb in his mouth and look all innocent... it makes us laugh so hard.

We've started trying to introduce some baby sign language: "more," "all done," "mama," and "daddy." Occasionally it looks like he's signing "more," but maybe he's just clapping?!? However, we can hold a whole conversation back and forth with him, each phrase sounding like the short "a" vowel sound. Doesn't make much sense, but it entertains us both!

This boy can eat... he often uses his thumb to push more and more food into the roof of his mouth, until we have to give him a sip of water to clear it out. I'm packing his lunch and snacks on school days to avoid the processed food that daycare offers. Everyday I send a "serving" of protein (usually chicken), two vegetables (either frozen or fresh), a fruit (always fresh), and sometimes a bit of cheese. In addition, he's still taking three 5 oz bottles of expressed breast milk during the day, and nursing three additional times in the morning and night. For dinner we usually try to feed him from our plates, although occasionally we offer him an additional veggie to supplement. He shovels the food into his mouth faster than we can even get it on his plate. We're also practicing using an open cup, and although he still spills a lot, we can see progress.

And miraculously, once we started consistently feeding him real meals, he started sleeping through the night again. Which makes all the difference in the world for Mama and Daddy.

From Mama's perspective...
Although things seem to be going pretty smoothly this month (nursing and pumping is still going well... maybe the best yet, we're sleeping through the night, etc.), I'm not getting much productive accomplished. By the time we get home in the evenings, Silas is very clingy and only wants to me to hold him. Which means cooking dinner is a challenge, much less cleaning the house, folding the laundry, and working on hobby projects. So instead we read board books, roll the ball back and forth, or sing silly songs. Sometimes I carefully prop him up on the bar stool at the kitchen island so he can watch me cook, and honestly sometimes he sits on the floor of the kitchen and wails as I chop something really quickly or adjust something in the hot oven.

One particularly memorable moment from this month... my milk wasn't letting down quickly at bedtime, frustrating both Silas and me. As tears rolled down my face, I started singing our bedtime song, "I Love You So Much." Silas calmed down, looked me in the eyes, and latched on, and then the milk began to flow. This song has become so special to us... as I begin signing the tune, I can feel Silas just relax in my arms.

A few of Silas' favorites...
There aren't many "new" favorite toys or gear this month... Silas is still rocking out with his guitar, throwing his ball around, and jumping like a maniac in the jumperoo.

Overall the favorites this month were the adventures that we went on...