Ani at Nine Months

I remember very clearly when Sam turned nine months. It was two weeks later we found out we were pregnant with Alan.

Nine months has been a very significant time period for us. In April 2006, I fell pregnant with Sam. Nine months later, she was born. Nine months later, I fell pregnant again. And nine months later he was born. Now, we are at the nine month point again and there are no new babies cooking. In fact, the only big news around here is R's new job (YAY!)

The past month there have been a lot of changes. R was home with us all month, which was a blessing in many ways. I was able to get more work done and get farther with my writing than I have been able to do in months. We went to NYC for a writing conference for me and while there, we taped a TV show (because of one of my essays) that may or may not be the Today Show (it may be Today in NY, the details are a bit fuzzy).

There have been a lot of changes with little Ani, too. He grew his first tooth and is working on his second. For Alan, teething has been a much longer, drawn out, painful process than it was for Sam. My poor baby has really been quite miserable--drooly, red-eyed, runny nosed, fussy. It is very sad to watch, although his little drooly 1.5-toothed grin is one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

In nine months he has gone from this:



to this:



He has become a much better sleeper over the past month. He is still an early riser and often wakes once, but usually only once. Other nights he sleeps from about 7:30-5:30/6. Of course, R and I are not good about actually going to bed so I am not sure we are seeing the benefits quite yet. It would be nice if he would sleep a bit later. Baby steps, I guess. With naps he still goes down from 8:30-10:30/11 and from 1-3/3:30 like clockwork each day.

He is getting very close to crawling. He still hates it when we put him on his tummy, but when we do, he pushes all the way up onto his hands and knees and just sort of locks them and cries. He has the strength, now all he needs is the motivation.

He also said his first word this month (Dada), which is the same age Sam said Mama. I think it is a great thing for R because now when he walks into a room, Ani smiles his drooly jack-o-lantern grin, cries "DADA" and reaches for him. It has done much for their bonding (as has this layoff). Recently he has also taken to clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth almost constantly, which makes an amusing clocking not entirely unlike the African clicking language.

As for me, my period has returned and I am more and more aware that I am NOT PREGNANT and very happy about that. But I am also aware of how quickly he is growing and that he may be my last baby. I am trying so hard to savor all of his baby essence because once its gone, it's gone forever. Weep.

Three of my favorite photos from this month:

At the passover seder: