Oh, Beckett. How are you 9 months already? That's just three short months until your one year birthday. I'm not ready to say goodbye to babyhood just yet!
Stats: 20 lbs (56th percentile), 17 1/2 in head (33rd percentile…definitely not a big head like your sister!), and 28 in. long (33rd percentile). Basically, you are right about average all around. But looking back at Zoe's nine month post, you seem like such a little peanut compared to her!
Likes: Zoe is still by far your favorite. Grandpa even commented on how you just light up when you see her. You love having a burp rag (weird) and you little bear lovey in your crib with you. And yes, they've been in there for months. True second child! Taking a bath. Playing in water. Standing (although you can't do it by yourself which means we have to hold you up a lot). Playing "so big!" although Zoe likes to remind us that "no mommy...he's actually SO LITTLE!"
Dislikes: Being overtired. Being left alone. Being on your tummy. You get so frustrated that you can't move forward and then you get stuck under things since you can only move backwards. Getting your diaper changed/getting ready for bed. OMG, you'd think it's the end of the world. You seem to do better if I do it on the floor, so I've started doing that just so I don't have to listen to the screams. You'd think we were torturing you!
Biggest Achievement This Month: Eating solid food. You are still super picky and have a major gag reflex, but you are getting better about eating what you like and getting it in your mouth. You'll try anything, but you are very big on texture.
Biggest Challenge This Month: Nothing major here. Not being able to move how you want is probably the most frustrating thing for you and us at this point.
Sleep: Down for the night around 7:30pm. You then wake around 6-6:45am. Your naps are at 9am and 12:30/1pm. At home you just take two naps but you take three at school because of how short they are. Your naps are anywhere from 1-2.5 hours.
Temperament/Personality: Happy, happy, happy! Again, you love to "play" with Zoe. You want everything she has, and she's usually very good about sharing and passing things back and forth.
Eating: You still take FOREVER to eat your bottles and FOREVER to eat your solids at lunch and dinner. You are still at 6 oz bottles. You take bottles at 6:30/7:00am, 11:30/12pm, 3pm, 7:30pm. The exact times depend on how long your naps are and if you are home vs. at school. I've realized you are exhausted at 7:30 no matter how long you nap so now I just let you go as long as you want.
You love your cereal and yogurt. You still like other solids but you are slow at eating. You take your cereal and yogurt and 8am, two small packs or one large pack of food at 11am, and then again at 6/6:30pm. We've started throwing table food in there too. You love your puffs and yogurt melts. You like corn on the cob (cut off the cob). You've tried sweet potatoes and peaches although you aren't a huge fan at this point. You hated the texture of the pancakes I tried to give you. We'll keep trying as we go.
Randoms: All size 9 month clothes. Fingers crossed that they last you the rest of the warm months. I don't want to have to buy 12 month summer clothes since we don't have many more warm days left. Since it's just onesies and shorts, I think we should be ok. Size 3 diapers during the day and at night.
Milestones: You now have 5 teeth. Two bottom, your two fang teeth, and one of your front teeth. The other front one looks like it's close behind. You can pull yourself to your knees now but not really all the way to a standing position. No crawling yet. You do try to push yourself forward and spin in circles. You are great at moving backwards and get mad when you get stuck under furniture (I would too).
We love you so much Beckett!!!
You just get more fun every month little man. Your personality just keeps busting through!
Stats: No checkup until 9 months. You are definitely growing though. Your nine month clothes fit perfectly!
Likes: Zoe is still your fav. The other day we went in her room while she was at swim lessons and when I opened the door, your face just LIT UP. Then you realized she wasn't in there and you definitely got confused. It was adorable. You get that same excited face every school morning when we go get her. I know this won't last forever, but I'm going to soak it up while you do it. She's like our little, 2.5 year old babysitter :)
Dislikes: Not much has changed since last month. Loud noises…You still scare pretty easily. Being overtired. Being left alone. You like to be sitting by yourself, but you need to be able to see people. You are content for a few minutes while I run around to get laundry done, etc. but it doesn't last very long. Getting your first tooth was also very rough for a few days.
Biggest Achievement This Month: Talking. You would talk by screaming before (not crying, just screaming). But now you are actually babbling sounds. DAADDAAADAAA is your favorite. You've thrown some other consonants here and there too.
Biggest Challenge This Month: The teeth! I should have known this would be rough since you are your own person and the exact opposite of Zoe in every way. I could see your bottom tooth starting to poke through. It just happened to be the day before daddy and I left for VA. You got diarrhea, were fussy during the day, and slept horrible for Nana at night. You had two rough nights when we got home and then were back to normal. You've gotten a few other teeth which have been fine so I guess you just didn't know what was happening that first time.
Sleep: Down for the night around 7:30pm. You then wake any where from 5-6:45am. I'd say your norm is now in the 6 o'clock hour but you have your 5 am days. We bought black out curtains so we'll see how those work :) Sometimes you just chat for 30 minutes to an hour, sometimes you fall back asleep. It's random. You aren't guzzling your bottle in the morning so I know it's not hunger. Your naps are at 9am and 12:30/1pm. At home you just take two naps but you take three at school because of how short they are. Your naps are anywhere from 1-2.5 hours.
Temperament/Personality: Happy, happy, happy! Again, you love to "play" with Zoe. You want everything she has, and she's usually very good about sharing and passing things back and forth.
Eating: I'm thinking you were going through a growth spurt last month. You aren't nearly as interested in eating now. You take FOREVER to eat your bottles and FOREVER to eat your solids at lunch and dinner. You are back down to 6 oz bottles. You take bottles at 6:30/7:00am, 11:30/12pm, 3pm, 7:30pm. The exact times depend on how long your naps are. I've realized you are exhausted at 7:30 no matter how long you nap so now I just let you go as long as you want.
You love your cereal and yogurt. You still like other solids but you are slow at eating. You take your cereal and yogurt and 8am, two small packs or one large pack of food at 11am, and then again at 6/6:30pm.
Randoms: All size 9 month clothes. I am still squeezing you in size 2 diapers to get rid of them but it's caused a lot of blow outs. Your teeth give you the runniest poop which means a lot of soaking clothes in oxy clean. I'm thankful that it saves them but I'm so sick of all the poop! Still in size 3 at night.
Milestones: You now have 3 teeth and another on the way. Both bottom teeth and one fang tooth. How random right?? The other fang tooth is the next one on the way. You are going to look so funny! :) You are sitting awesome on your own. You did tip back once at the camper of course on the cement but you only whined for a second and then were fine. You still can't pull up or come close to crawl. You do try to push yourself forward and spin in circles.
Oh mister. You are getting way to close to one year. How is that possible?? You bring so much joy to this family. We love you so much baby Beckett!
I have had this ready to go for one month I just never got around to adding the picture and hitting publish. Oops! Zoe's posts got sporadic once I started work too so I feel a little less bad. And no pics other than the monthly pic :( I just have no time to add them!
Clearly, I think you are a month older than you really are since I almost titled this post EIGHT months. Regardless of your age, you are SO.MUCH.FUN right now. I could spend all day every day playing in the backyard with you and Zoe.
Stats: We had to go in for your ear recheck after your ear infection and you were 17 lbs 8 oz there. No idea where that is on the growth chart, but you are definitely plumping up! You've got a double chin going when you get excited, your cheeks are round and squeezable and you are starting to FINALLY get some rolls.
Likes: Zoe. Numero uno favorite thing in this world. She can immediately turn your mood around just by walking in the room. It's pretty amazing to see how much you love her already. And she loves you right back. She does really well at sharing with you and even tells us how you are sharing your toys with her (let's hope that you are good at sharing too when you actually realize what is yours and what is hers). The swaddle when away this month so we put Mr. Monkey and your lovey in your crib and you play with them in the morning when you wake up at your ungodly hour. Food - bottles or solids, you don't care. You gobble it all.
Dislikes: Loud noises…You still scare pretty easily. Being overtired. Being left alone. You like to be sitting by yourself, but you need to be able to see people. You are content for a few minutes while I run around to get laundry done, etc. but it doesn't last very long. Not having your paci although that has gotten MUCH better of the last few days.
Biggest Achievement This Month: Rolling from back to tummy. Although, you don't like to show your rolling tricks too often :)
Biggest Challenge This Month: Getting rid of the swaddle AND the paci. You started busting out of the swaddle and rolling around the same time so we decided to give it a try and you really did ok. I think they still swaddle you for naps at school, but your naps there aren't always the best so whatever works.
The paci, oh the paci! You weren't that reliant on it until you got sick. Then you had a cold and an ear infection and were just irritable so we popped it in your mouth all the time and you became addicted. So much so you were waking 10 times a night for us to pop it back in. Cue the end of the paci. The doctor said that if it wasn't interfering with sleep, it was ok to have for the first year. Well, I'd say waking up screaming for it all night is interfering with sleep. So we went cold turkey. We endured 3 or 4 nights of screaming for 20 minutes when we put you down (you wanted nothing to do with us...just that paci). Then the next few nights just some whimpering. You'd wake up maybe once and whimper but that was it! You've had one bad nap where it took you FOREVER to fall back asleep after you woke 40 minutes in but you got there. It would be nice to have during the day sometimes when you are a little whiney, but we are done and at least we don't have to worry about breaking you of the habit later.
Sleep: Down for the night around 7:30pm. You then wake around 5am or 5:45am (TOO EARLY!). Then sometimes you just chat and want up, sometimes you fall back asleep. It's random. We are trying to hold off feeding you until at least 6:30am so that you don't get used to waking so early. I think the light mornings are a big factor here. Your naps are at 8:45/9am, 12:30/1pm, and 4:30/5pm. Your first two naps are anywhere from 1-2.5 hours. Your last nap is usually only 30-45 minutes unless one of your first two naps were shorter, then you'll sleep longer. I think we are getting close to getting rid of the third nap. As long as you nap well the other two, you can easily make it to bedtime without total meltdown. Maybe you'll sleep in a little bit too (doubtful) ;)
Temperament/Personality: Happy, happy, happy! Again, you love to "play" with Zoe. You want everything she has, and she's usually very good about sharing and passing things back and forth.
Eating: We upped your bottles to 7 oz since we cut out a feeding. It seems like a lot, but we talked to the doctor and she said the average for your age is 24-28 oz/day. So by upping it to 7 oz, you are now at the max which you seem to want. You take bottles at 6:30/7:00am, 11:30/12pm, 3pm, 7:30pm. The exact times depend on how long your naps are. I usually try to make sure you've slept at least 2 hours and then I'll let you go 15-30 minutes longer.
You now LOVE your cereal. And food. The only thing you haven't like so far are peaches (which is weird to me) and chicken and gravy (which sounds disgusting ground up so I can't blame you here). You take your cereal and yogurt and 8am, two small packs or one large pack of food at 11am, and then again at 6/6:30pm. School sometimes sneaks in another pack at 4:30 or 5pm if you seem cranky, but you've never needed that "snack" at home.
Randoms: A mix of 6 and 9 month clothes. The 6 months JUST fit now. Still in size 2 diapers. Although, I have you in size 3 for nighttime since you are close to leaking out of size 2 now that you are sleeping through the night.
Milestones: You can roll both ways now. You can also sit pretty well on your own which is a little earlier than Zoe. Still no teeth. You are eating everything in site though. I'm not sure if it's your teeth or just that you are at the age where everything goes in your mouth. We've talked to Zoe repeatedly about what she can give you to play with and what she can't. She loves to share but sometimes a little too much.
I love this phase and love watching you and your sister become the best of friends. But feel free to slow down a little. I'm going to miss my baby! Love you Beckett!
Oh Zoe. I will say that we've hit a challenging couple of months. But with those challenges comes the most bubbly personality. Just when my patience is completely gone, you say something that is absolutely hilarious or do the cutest thing, and I seem to forget whatever you were doing that was upsetting me. I know that the drama will only continue as you get older… :) But you've got spunk and one heck of a personality that I love seeing shine through.
You repeat everything we say and in context.
I'll say "actually" when you try to argue with me and you now like to say it to me. For instance, I'll say you can't have any more bread. You'll then say, "I actually want bread." Yes, yes, Zoe. I know.
Whatever. Oh this word! Thankfully, it's pretty much stopped since I'm actually posting this but it was like nails on a chalkboard for a while. You'd say whatever, laugh and then say, "We don't say whatever." That's right…now don't say it!! :)
There were a slew of birthdays in your room at school and everyone brought in cake or cupcakes. When we were in FL, we had cake and you kept asking, "Can I have some birthday please?" You clearly thought all cake was birthday cake :)
We've finally hit a stride with going #1 AND #2 on the potty. You definitely need to take your time when going #2 and I came up with the idea of using the shower curtain as a "privacy curtain" so now most of the time you'll pull the curtain around you, tell me to "give you pridadcy" and do your business. It's ADORABLE. Whatever works!
You love, love, love your brother and he adores you right back. He seems to give you the biggest smiles. There have been a few times though where you get frustrated with us and take it out on him (throwing something at him or hitting him). Thankfully, that has only happened two or three times. Obviously, I know this is only the beginning, but it's not really a fair fight since he can't fight back ;)
You HATE to brush your teeth. I have to come up with a new crazy song every day it seems to get you to do it. It's so frustrating for us since it's really something that should only take two minutes but ends up taking at least 10 because have to fight with you.
You are getting better at eating different things. I've introduced "dip" which daddy seems to think was a bad idea, but I say you are 2. And most kids dip everything in ketchup so who cares if you eat a little ranch or sweet and sour sauce? It's a sure way to get you to eat cucumbers and chicken. You'll also eat red peppers now. You love it so much that you know which dip is for what. "No mommy. That dip (ranch) is for my cucumber and that dip (sweet and sour) is for my chicken."
You love, love, love to skip and hop everywhere. If you are skipping, you sing "Lou, lou, skip to my lou…" You also love to sing "Row Row Row Your Boat." Although you improvise a little…"Row row row row row, gently down the stream. Merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream…"
You also love to point things out now when we are driving. You did this before here and there mostly point out big trucks, or buses, etc. But now you'll tell me everything all at once. "I see a house, a sidewalk, a sign, grass, people" and so on and so on. You love the "honk for peace" hippies that camp out on 9 mile on Monday afternoons. You get SO excited when you see them.
Daniel Tiger has become your TV obsession. You
'll also watch Curious George but Daniel Tiger is your favorite. We've used it as bribery for going #2 :) And it helped you to sit still while you got your stitches. Thankfully, it's a show with great lessons so I can't complain in your choice of cartoons.
I love to give you kisses and you'll announce, "I just gave you a kiss!" if I try to sneak another. Then I start kissing you like crazy :)
Swimming has become your thing and you are such a fish in the water. You would have stayed in that pool 24/7 in FL if we would have let you!
One morning we were going potty and you finished your business and stood up and faced your potty and said, "Daddy stands like this!" Omg. Do NOT try to pee like that! Thankfully, I explained that's how boys/daddies go potty but girls and mommies have to sit. Now you'll stop at random places and stand there with your legs spread and tell us "Daddy stands like this to go potty! But I sit down." Thankfully you caught on quickly. The last thing that I need is for you to try to pee standing.
Oh, Zoe. We love you girl! Keep making us laugh :)
I can't believe you are already 2.5 little girl. You are so much fun, and we love you so much.
What an amazing six months we had Beckett. I can't believe it's time to go back to work already. I know you'll do fine. I know that naps will probably be horrible. I know that you'll love your teachers and make new friends. But right now, I get to see all of your firsts. I get to be in control and make sure you nap when you are supposed to. I get to make you smile. But I know from experience, it'll be ok. We'll get into our new routine. Weeknights will be hectic but weekends will be awesome.
Stats: Head 17 in (43rd percentile), weight 16 lb 11 oz (31st percentile), height 26.25 in (30th percentile). Your head and height are tracking consistently but you've bumped up in the weight (were in the 18th 3 months ago). I attribute that to your decrease in spitting up. And I love the little chunk you are finally getting on your thighs!
Likes: Swaddled. We tried to eliminate this this month, but it went horribly so we gave up and decided to try again in a few weeks. White noise. Mr. Monkey that Nana and Grandpa got you for Easter. Watching Zoe's dance parties. Paci. Having Zoe hop like a bunny toward you.
Dislikes: Loud noises…You scare VERY easily. Being overtired. Being left alone. You like to be sitting by yourself, but you need to be able to see people. You are content for a few minutes while I run around to get laundry done, etc. but it doesn't last very long.
Biggest Achievement This Month: I think we've broken you from your early morning bottle! I was down to only giving you 3 oz. I was going to go down to 2 oz. one morning, but you woke at a weird time so I just gave you your paci. You fell back asleep! Granted, you are sleeping all the way until 7am like I'd prefer, but you at least just need your paci which is much faster then making and giving you your bottle. Yay!
Biggest Challenge This Month: Trying to get rid of the swaddle. Thankfully, I called daycare and they will swaddle you there. I tried for about a week and you were just MISERABLE. Like screaming for 20 minutes. I have no problem crying it out, but I can tell when you are going to calm down and when you are past the point of being ok. And you only soothed yourself back to sleep once. You'd sleep for 20-30 minutes max, jerk yourself awake and then scream the rest of the nap. You were taking 1.5-2.5 hour naps consistently so I decided you probably just weren't ready yet. We'll get there!
Sleep: Down for the night around 7:30pm. You'd probably go to sleep earlier. You then wake around 5am for your paci. Then sometimes sleep until 6:45am straight or we have to give you your paci again. We are working on it. Your naps are at 8:45/9am, 12:30/1pm, and 4:30/5pm. Your first two naps are anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours. Your last nap is usually only 45 minutes unless one of your first two naps were shorter, then you'll sleep longer.
Temperament/Personality: So easy going! You are starting to need a little more entertainment, but you are very content for the most part. Zoe provides all the entertainment you need on the days she is home :) It's a little trickier on days she has school (our house is getting a little boring!). Thankfully, the weather is FINALLY warmer so we've been taking walks and playing outside.
I told school yesterday that they just need to bring Zoe into the infant room if you are ever super fussy. You should light right up! Seeing you two together is just precious. She MUST give you a hug and kiss every morning before she leaves for school. She never forgets and gets very upset if daddy tries to get her out the door before she's said goodbye to you. She also has to do the same every night before she goes to bed.
Eating: You are still taking 5.5-6 oz. You take bottles at 7:00am, 10:30/11:15am, 2:30/3:30pm, 5/5:30pm, 7:30pm. The exact times depend on how long your naps are. I usually try to make sure you've slept at least 2 hours and then I'll let you go 15-30 minutes longer.
You now LOVE your cereal. We are at twice a day now. 8am and lunch time...11:30 or 12. We also introduced sweet potatoes. So obvious that you are the second child as we are *breaking* the rules a little bit and feeding you real food a few days early. You loved the sweet potatoes. Our fingers are crossed that you'll eat something green unlike your sister :)
Randoms: All size 6 month clothes. Some of these are getting a little tight! You may get to wear your FL clothes for a little bit. Still in size 2 diapers. Although, I have you in size 3 for nighttime since you are close to leaking out of size 2 now that you are sleeping through the night.
Milestones: You still are really trying to roll from your back to your belly but you aren't there yet. Still no teeth. You chomp away on your hands but there is nothing there when I feel your gums. I do see a little something on the bottom so I'm wondering if you have one working on poking through.
We love you so much little man! You are the perfect addition to our crazy, hectic life :)
