Nine Months

Dear Griffin,

This week you turned nine months old. I know, I'm 3 days late with this post, but you were 4 days late 9 months ago, so I figure we're even! You've now spent just as much time on the outside as you did on the inside. By the time you had spent 9 months on the inside, you had poked and prodded and explored every single inch of your home. You are currently working on doing the same thing out here! This months big adventure for you has been crawling. For us it has been an exercise in anticipation (as in where the heck will he go next so I can grab everything I can out of his reach!) One day you took 3 tentative crawling steps, and a few days later you were motoring across the living room with the speed and agility of an Olympian Crawler. You've gone from wobbly to sturdy, tentative to determined. And slow to SUPER-FLY FAST!!
So far your favourite things worth crawling for are Dudley, beer, and anything paper. Dudley, the poor guy, is having a hard time finding a sanctuary where he can just lay down and have a fracking nap already, without you pouncing on top of him to pet him pull on his fur. He lies on the couch or the floor, and then looks at us with disdain when we let you loose, like as if to say "Now what the hell did you go and do that for??" Getting you to crawl for beer...well that's just plain comedy and proves, once again, that you are indeed the fruit of our loins. And then there's the paper. If you could leaf through the catalogues with the calmness and leisure of someone casually looking for a new spring coat, it would be one thing. But you attack the catalogues and magazines as if they have somehow affronted you personally, ripping page after page into tiny shreds. And then eating them. And then choking on them, and puking them up. Take that, damn catalogue!

Your crawling abilities have quickly taught us that nothing is safe. It is not safe to turn your back on the baby when he is near the dog's bowls. Or even when he is no where near the dog's bowls. It is ALSO not safe to leave the baby sleeping in the big bed anymore. Because sleeping in the big bed is SOOO comfortable. And when you wake up, there's no crying - you're not cranky at all! You're so happy, in fact, that you just want to get back out into the world and seize some more of the day. So instead of crying to alert your parents to your awakened state, you just get up and go....and crawl right off the end of the bed! I don't know if you'll ever get to hear the sickening sound of baby head hitting hardwood, followed by blood curdling screams, and I pray you don't, but so far the general consensus is that it happens to all parents once. Which makes me feel just a little bit better. That and the fact that you chose to crawl off the foot of the bed, where luckily Dudley's bed lives, so your landing was slightly softened. Thank god the dog bed is good for something, because lord knows the dog finds our bed about as comfy as you do!

We have had the good fortune to finally enjoy some more outside time in the past month, and you LOVE it out there! Right now the porch is your oyster, and you are an expert at finding all the stuff that I didn't sweep up and putting it towards your mouth. We also busted out the fifteen dollar pool that Mama bought and if that wasn't the best thing EVER!! Now no more driving to Orangeville to go swimming, we can do it right here in the comfort and privacy of our own backyard!

The past few weeks have been a new form of chaos, as I've SUDDENLY gone back to work part time. Now that Mama and Dad are both working from home, we've quickly made some changes to facilitate this. There's now a SELF CLOSING gate at the top of the stairs, firstly so that we don't have to swear at each other about not closing the door, and secondly, so that we can swear at each other (should we want to!) without having to yell THROUGH the door. We've worked quickly on finding a daycare provider for emergencies, bought a fax machine, and all kinds of other fun stuff. So far it's working marvelously and we're hopeful it can continue this way. It's lovely that you get to spend more time with your Dad, but I sure do miss my boys when I'm out of the house - you're certainly a nice clan to come home to!This week your 4th tooth has come in, you're starting to wake up only once at night on a consistent basis, you're still eating like a horse (but that's to be expected) and I think we all feel like we've really gotten into a bit of the rhythm of things. You have quite the personality - happy, go lucky, and curious about EV-ER-Ything. The doctor said something great last month - that most babies we're very concerned about what was going on around them, but you we're just curious, taking it all in stride. You love to smile, and more than that I think you love to make other people smile. I love that you can come to us under your own steam now, when you want to be picked up and cuddled, or you just want to be close. We love you to pieces, more and more each day, and are thrilled watching you grow into a little man!

xoxoxo

Love Mama