Dear William (9 months)

Dear William,

Today you are 9 months old. In many ways, I feel like this is the "golden age of William." Things are definitely a lot easier than when you were first born and you cried and cried all the time, you poor dear. You're a lot happier these days. You crack yourself up. You crack me up. You're a riot.

Just after you turned 8 months old, we took our first family trip. We all flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico, so that I could attend a conference. You loved it. You had a blast. You looked around at all the new and exciting things out there, and I could tell you were a born traveller. You went to parks and museums and restaurants and even the Rio Grande. You didn't eat too well while we were there, though. You had to have store-bought baby food, and you just didn't care for it. You didn't sleep that great while we were there either, but I think it was because you were hungry from declining to eat your store-bought baby food. It took us a little while to get back on track, but I think we're doing alright now.

Speaking of eating, you've continued to sample a lot of good, healthy foods. Here's a list of the things you've eaten since we started this whole thing:

avocado
banana
rice cereal (store bought and homemade)
sweet potato
pears
squash
asparagus
millet
sweet peas (store bought)
carrot
zucchini
plums
apple
broccoli
green beans
barley
prunes (you love them!)
peaches
kiwi
kale
tofu
cauliflower
Cheerios

Oh my goodness, with the Cheerios. At first I was so scared to give them to you because I was afraid you would choke on them. I've always pureed all your food so that there were no chunks at all in it. But the other mothers were telling me that they gave their babies Cheerios whey they were younger than you even. So I decided to give it a try. I put a few Cheerios out on the tray of your high chair and you reached out, picked one up, and ate it. Just like you'd always known how to do it! Okay, well I guess it wasn't always quite as smooth as that. You knew what to do with the Cheerios, but making your little fingers cooperate was quite another matter. You don't yet have the precision grip necessary to grasp the little Cheerio between your thumb and forefinger and neatly put it in your mouth. But the opposable digits will come later.

It has been exciting to see how every day you get better and better about picking up your Cheerios and putting them in your mouth. Often as you are eating them you say "MMMMmmmm!!" either because they are so good or because you are so excited. A lot of times I will give you Cheerios as hors d'oeuvres while I am warming your real food. It keeps you occupied and entertained, your dad and I can go ahead and eat our dinner while you are snacking on your Cheerios. I've tried giving you other finger foods, such as bits of banana or kiwi, but if the item is squishy you have trouble picking it up and getting it to your mouth. You'll get better at it, I know, but for now, Cheerios are a must.

Your dad and I both ran the Illinois Marathon this month. It was your dad's 7th marathon and my 9th. It was my first one back since having you though. You had a good time playing with your grandma and grandpa while your dad and I were running, but you didn't eat while we were away. You little stinker!! I don't know why you won't take a bottle or eat your food if mama isn't there! I got to see you at Mile 11, which was the best part of the marathon for me. I tried to run as fast as I could so that I could get back to you sooner. I realized that doing this marathon was the longest I'd ever been away from you. I didn't like that one bit. I was so happy when I finished and came home and got to hold you again.

You don't cry nearly as much as you used to when you were little and newly born. You laugh a lot these days. Just last weekend we were in the grocery store together and you looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back at you, and then you smiled even bigger. Then you started to giggle, which made me giggle, and then the two of us were giggling to our hearts content as we walked up and down the aisles of the store. Neither of us knew why we were giggling, but that didn't matter. It was so much fun.

William, I am so thankful that I have you.

Love,

Mama