9-Month Swing / Milestones XI

Justin Alexander turns 9 months old tomorrow. Or put another way, he has now been outside of the womb for just as long as he was inside. So that 9-month swing means he's been around for a total of 18 months already. That statement alone leaves me to marvel and wonder where the time has gone. He is such a "big boy" now, it's incredible. And as much as I look forward to the millions of moments we have ahead of us, I find myself already growing sad and trying to hold onto the 1/2 million heartfelt moments that have already passed right by us. Kids have a funny way of growing up. And I guess parents have a funny way of being surprised by it everytime; as if they never knew it would happen. These are the idiosyncracies of life that I wouldn't trade for the world.


As for Justin's milestones, I don't think much has changed since our last milestone check. In terms of the "Not-The-Momma" syndrome that I wrote about not too long ago, V was exactly on point when she commented on how cyclical his favoritism is these days. It could not have been 48 hours after I published that entry that Justin started staying DaDa and giving me the sliced bread treatment. My guess is that he read the blog and was just feeling bad about the whole thing. Either way (I can't lie) I ate it up, am still loving it, and have become a sucker for the boy all over again.


In other news, there are still no definitive words being uttered (outside of mama, dada, and the likes) and still no teeth...which has not stopped him from brushing his gums to attain that minty fresh feeling in the morning. He's also thrilled to sit around and practice the opening and closing of his hands a la the bye-bye motion, but hasn't quite learned when he's supposed to use this new skill just yet. Also, after having me think he'd never crawl at all, he now crawls at the speed of light and in fact seems just a heartbeat away from walking unassisted. As of now, he's constantly amusing himself with his ability to balance with no hands (he can stay up for about a 10-count), and if you catch him in the right mood he'll take a step and a half forward before it all comes tumbling down. V had a hunch that he'd be walking by 9 months old... and to be honest, even with less than 24 hours left on that timeline, I'm not so sure she won't be right. Stay tuned.