Cooper - Nine Month Update!

This little dude is almost nine months old! What a sweet age, let me tell you.

 

We're starting to see quite a bit more of the Coopster's little personality. Hmmm, what can I say. When we go out, we get a lot of comments that he is a serious little guy. He does tend to furrow up those cute little eyebrows a lot. But I'm pretty sure it's because he is a baby genius and is analyzing everything that he sees. ;)

 

At home it's a different story, he's such a funny little guy! He seems to get the craziest at dinner time, his latest antics are to make random screams or monster growls for attention. Then, when we look over laughing he also laughs and spits food everywhere. It's very messy.

 

He's got quite a little temper and knows what he wants. Most of the time what he wants includes everything that he's not allowed to have: the cordless phone, computer cables, lotion bottles, cookies, Roary's tail, etc. He basically loves and wants to play with ANYTHING that is not a toy. His latest fascination has been my toothbrush, so I got him his own and he chomps away on that thing all the time. Might as well get him used to brushing, right?

 

Speaking of teeth, apparently Cooper doesn't like to follow the norm. He just recently got his first two teeth.... and they were his top lateral incisors!!! He kind of looks like a vampire baby when he smiles and, well, I kind of like it. Hahaha. This morning his two bottom front teeth just popped through. He's been such a champ through the whole teething business.

 

Sleeping? Let's just ask the question - is it possible that I am getting less sleep now than I was when he was a newborn?!?!? He has made really good progress falling asleep in his crib for his oh-so-short naps (right now he's having three 20-30 minute naps a day). Nighttime, however, is a different story. Aye yay yay this boy does not know how to self-soothe and cries out for me whenever he wakes up in the night. We'll work on it though, when he's finished this bout of teething. Or maybe when he's five. We'll see. ;)

As for eating, he is a total rock star. Dude loves to eat EVERYTHING. I've been pretty adventurous so far with trying to introduce varying flavors and textures. The latest recipes he has tried and loved include:

 

Apple, Apricot, and Tofu

Tomatoes and Carrots with Basil

Sweet Potato with Spinach and Peas

Cauliflower Cheese

Salmon with Carrots and Tomato

Coops started eating finger foods a bit earlier than he was supposed to, because well, he literally told me that he was ready! He absolutely loves to feed himself and his current favorite finger foods include tiny pieces of chicken, peas, toast, grated cheese, watermelon, and banana coated with crushed cereal.

Unfortunately the Coops came down with a bit of a rash a few weeks ago and we (the doc and I) aren't sure if it was viral, a food sensitivity, or a reaction to some kind of allergen. I've been keeping a close eye on him and whipped up a little baby food journal just in case!

We signed up for 8 weeks of baby swim lessons at the little local pool in our town which starts next month. I think he'll love it but I am not looking forward to freezing my tooshie off in the cold pool water. We've also been hitting up a baby playgroup that meets once a week at the school up the street. Basically the babies crawl all over each other, swap drool, and pull each other's hair. I constantly have to tell the germaphobe in me to simmer down the whole time though. Haha!

 

As far as baby achievements go, he can sorta wave hi and bye, give high-fives, clap, sit up without falling over, wave his arms/dance to annoying baby music, and army crawl to get places. He's SO CLOSE to the real crawl. I blame cold temperatures and ten layers of clothing as the reason he's not on the move yet. Go away winter, nobody likes you! His current vocabulary includes mamamama, mumumumum, dadadada, nananana, gagagaga, yayayaya, and of course the random screams, laughs, cries, yells, and other silly noises to get our attention.

 

 

We just applied for Cooper's baby passport and are thinking about possibly taking a vacation to somewhere hot. I am nervous about traveling with a baby but know that it will be so much fun. And we need to get out of here because there were almost record-breaking cold temperatures here this week. I have never even heard of -45 degrees Celsius before. Eeeeeek! So, if you have any travel tips for me I will willingly take them. :)

 

{cozycottagecute on Instagram}

 

I hope you and your family are having a super awesome start to the New Year. I'll be back (soon I hope) to show you some front entry organization, some camera gear organization, and some kitchen-y Christmas goodies. See you soon, friends!

 

P.S. I'm pretty sure that I replied to every single one of your comments so far in 2013. Not sure if I'll be able to keep that up forever but I'm trying! Yay!

UPDATED TO ADD:

He's crawling, he's crawling! I tried something new today after I published this post. Instead of placing him fully clothed on a baby quilt, I threw down a large, tatty old blanket, turned up the heat, stripped him down, and placed some enticing objects just out of reach. The lack of clothes made a difference, they totally did!

Eeeek, he's on the move! :)