Happy 9 month Birthday, Hunter!

Quite a bit happened this month.. particularly in relation to physical development and also speech development. Very hard to explain or capture in photos/videos, so only those of us very close to him have seen the marked difference. I’m grateful he’s developing as he’s meant to and he really is a charming lil boy that has the power to melt my heart.

Actually I think he also went through a big change in terms of social interaction. Ever since birth, Hunter has been more of a quiet, calm baby. It’s obvious to those that see him, and he’s not one of those kids that giggle and laugh with glee at anything and everything. You have to work to get a laugh out of him, and sometimes, he doesn’t find it amusing and *glares* at you with a “you freakin’ weirdo” look instead 😛 But in recent weeks, he’s a LOT more social and smiles more easily at strangers.

The worst thing that happened this month was his first time falling sick. I guess that, at 8 months old, he’d already been lucky to escape being sick for so long. He got a snuffly nose, and a chesty cough. It wasn’t very bad, fortunately, but was enough that we had to keep cleaning his snot (hooooboy he hated that!) and he would keep coughing through the night which was heart-breaking to hear 🙁 It started during our Bintan holiday and lasted for about a week. It’s truly sad watching your child fall sick and being uncomfortable 🙁 On the upside, he still ate and slept normally and his routine wasn’t interrupted nor did he cry about it, so I guess I suffered more than he did 😉

MONTH 8-9 PROGRESS:

• Eating – At the start of the month, I thought I’d be writing another “FAIL” in this section. But in the past 2 weeks, something amazing and wonderful happened. Hunter started eating. Previously, it would be World War III when we tried to get him to eat – he would not eat anything and would scream and cry and fight. It was awful and went on for months. Then 2 weeks ago, he suddenly opened up his mouth and enjoyed food. What did we do? How did he change? I have absolutely no idea. But I LOVE it 🙂 He eats avocado, tofu, spinach, congee, fish, pear, mango, banana, papaya, oatmeal, brown pasta. I am truly fascinated at watching him eat now.. and it feels SO weird to feed a baby that opens his mouth eagerly for food. I never thought I would see the day. My only wish? Keep it up, Hunter!!
  And on top of all that… he’s starting to poop by himself again! He pooed by himself 3 times in the past 4 days.. no suppository required. To what do we owe this honour? 😉

Eating happily, shock horror!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDU4cRc3SZc

• Sleeping – Nothing to update here because he voluntarily goes down for his naps (1.5hrs in the morning, 45mins in the afternoon) and night time sleep (12hrs straight) like clockwork. Hopefully this continues!

• Motor control – Hunter is crazily mobile now, or at least compared to previous months. He was never a hyper baby, and despite hitting his Milestones on-track/early, he would do it to prove to everyone he could, but not scamper all over the place 24/7. This meant that I could leave him on the playmat by himself and it’d be fine, and I’d secretly feel very pleased I had a ‘well behaved’ baby. Not the case now! He pulls himself to a standing position, he cruises along furniture, he crawls/scampers, he climbs up and over, he uses his pincer grasp to pick up his teeny snacks like a badass, he wiggles, flips, and is really energetic. I wouldn’t say he’s hyper, just a LOT more active than before.

Chasing his pool toy
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iIMH-sjnq4

• Talking – Now he calls “Mama” at me, but Chris insists it’s not specific as Hunter calls him that too 😉 Or maybe he’s just telling Chris to get me, haha!! And he says “Mum mum” when he’s hungry, usually accompanied with the baby-sign for ‘milk’ (yep, we taught him baby sign language).
  He otherwise babbles a bunch of other stuff, but all incoherent 😛

I’m excited to see what the next month is going to bring, because he just seems so different in the past few weeks. It’s delightful to see him more aware of his surroundings and people around him, and just hearing his chuckle and seeing his happy ‘lil face can make my whole day.

How I love my lil baby bear!

PREVIOUS PROGRESS:

• 8 months
• 7 months
• 6 months
• 5 months
• 4 months
• 3 months
• 2 months