Month Nine

July 12, 2020

Titus,

This month has been almost indescribable. With the advent of full crawling, and pulling up on everything around you, this month’s post would just be a long list of how cute you are when you pull up on each new thing. We have spent so much time this month just watching you crawl, cruise, and explore. You love to look out the windows and sliding door, and we have nothing but baby handprints right at knee level. Each of those is a new experience for you, and for us to watch you. The house has resounded with the exclamations of your brothers: “Daddy, Titus is pulling up on the …!” “Mommy, Titus just did …!” From the stairs, to shelves, to the sliding glass door, to the living room furniture, you’re up, crawling, and cruising around. If Daddy weren’t paying attention, this month would just be a long series of photos of you standing up holding on to various objects in the house.

This, of course, extends to your crib now. We had to do a quick change and drop the level of your crib down to the lowest before you found a way to climb right out of it. Now that you can pull up on the crib, going to sleep involves standing and talking or fussing in the crib for a while before lying down to sleep. Or, we’ll find you with your legs through the crib, grabbing the bars like a jail cell, crying away. That said, we’re pretty sure that the ability to put yourself to sleep happens earlier with number 3, possibly from necessity as much as nature.

We took a vacation to Colorado to see the family, and especially Grandpa and Nana, for their birthdays! We had fun climbing mountains, playing with cousins, and spending some great time with all the grandparents. Side parenting note: Amazon Prime may be the best parenting tool since the video baby monitor. We forgot to bring your bunny snuggle blanket, and thought you wouldn’t notice. First two nights, you didn’t sleep that well. Prime 1-day delivery of a new bunny, instant joy from you, and a much better sleep for the rest of the trip. Live and learn, and now we have a couple spares!

Lots of new foods to try this month. We’ve reached the point that we can just stick it on the tray and watch you go. From eggs, to green beans, different crackers, and other things, we’re getting pretty impressive faces. You’re up to a full mouth of eight teeth, which you happily show us any time as you smile. You’re also biting Mommy, which isn’t super conducive to nursing. We have fun holding up two foods from which you can select. Your little eyes jump back and forth between them as we watch your mind work, and then the smile and reach for selection.

We’re getting a lot more communication than just smile and reach this month, though. You’ve established a whole vocabulary with Mommy of pats, rubs, and pulls that bring a wide range of messages, mostly having to do with snuggles, nursing, and when you’re ready for bed. Otherwise, you’re pretty good at the signs for “more”, and “all done”. We get waves for night night, and the occasional hug. (Well, Mommy gets lots of hugs, whenever you’re ready to eat and/or go to bed.) You’re also making some pretty suggestive sounds, from “mama”, to “dada” and other things, as you’re starting to mimic the sounds you’re hearing. We love to hear the chatter, babbling, and occasional “Dada!” rise from the back seat of the car as we drive someplace.

We introduced you to the water this month, via swimming at friends houses. You’re all in on the swimming pool, and have a great time floating and splashing around. It’s so much fun to take you and your brothers at all levels of ability to the pool to spend time swimming together.

This month brought your first trip to the zoo, which has just reopened, requiring masks for everyone over the age of four. Lots of fun seeing the animals and birds. Just the outside was open, so we haven’t seen the fish and jungle animals yet. This always brings back memories of your brothers at the zoo as infants, seeing animals for the first time. Other than Molly, of course, who you have started to pursue around the house on your hands and knees. She just gives us her long suffering look and moves to a new spot to avoid your little hands.

We’re having to work harder and harder to contain you in the house, despite the baby gates, so far. Mommy blocked the main path to the kitchen with a couch cushion, so you crawled through the small gap between the couches. Mommy blocked that with a pillow, so you crawled all the way around through the other door into the kitchen, where you almost always beeline straight for the dog dishes, to put your hands in the water. We pulled the zebra walker out of the basement this month, and over the last 15 days or so you’ve gone from standing and fussing, to barely walking (more of a controlled fall forward), to really walking that thing around the room. You’re also carrying the occasional thing around the house in your mouth, in full “puppy” mode.

The beginning of July brought your first 4th of July, with friends, fun, and fireworks. The noise didn’t phase you at all, and it’s always fun to celebrate with you. Two days later was Mommy’s birthday, and you are just the best present this year. You are such a happy baby, with smile for almost everyone, almost all the time. We have such pleasure being your parents every day, and look at each other at least once a day with an “isn’t he so cute?”.

Lots of love,

Daddy and Mommy