Nine months (so, so belated)

 

The month between October 20 and November 20 was lots of fun!  

 

 

Chip's climbing and pulling up improved, he started hands and knees crawling, figured out stairs (up anyway) and learned to get himself into a sitting position.  All of this added up to a much more confident, mobile little dude.  Sitting, in particular, has been revolutionary for us.* All of a sudden, our busy little bee was pretty happy just to sit and "read" books for minutes at a time; I suppose because he knew he could move over and crawl away if he wanted to.

 

Chip's love of books was one of the highlights of this month.  He'd always enjoyed storytime, but in month 9, almost every time we come into the lounge, he made a beeline for his bookshelf, and sat there reading away; getting frustrated when he couldn't turn pages as easily as he'd like (and once screaming because he'd trapped a finger in a book he was sitting on- it was horrible, and the few seconds it took me to dash to him seemed to drag on for ages; poor thing was so confused). 

Summer's arrival was another highlight.  We were able to spend the fussy times of day sitting outside; Chip playing with his neighbourhood cat friend while I picked and podded broad beans, unpegged laundry, or did other outside jobs (ok, ok- Chip eating dirt, trying to eat broad beans, and mauling the hapless neighbourhood cat which for some reason loves him...)

 

 The month wasn't all fun and games.  Sleep was terrible for all of us, and Chip had his first tummy bug.  But overall, it was another great month with a great kid.  I really am loving this big-baby, pre-toddler stage!

*we loosely followed an RIE/Pikler approach which advocates not putting babies into positions they can't get into on their own.  The fact that Chip did not like sitting made it a LOT easier to stick with this approach!