Reflecting

When we first had J and were tired and stressed beyond words, most parents told us it'd get better. Some parents told us this part is easy - it's when they start having a mind of their own and can move around - that's hard. I'd say that at every point in J's 9 months with us, we've found some aspect of raising him difficult/challenging or rewarding/fun. Of course, it's always much more rewarding and fun in hindsight!

As a newborn, he wanted to be held constantly and was especially difficult from the hours of 10pm-3am. Did I mention we were both exhausted? On the other hand, besides those difficult hours, he was "easy". He didn't even mind the crowd and noises at his 1-month celebration in Chinatown. Even now, he still likes "re nao" (熱鬧).

As J went from eating every 2-3 hrs to every 4 hrs at 3 months, our lives got a bit easier. J fell into his own waking-eating-sleeping routine. He still wanted to be held constantly, but then he also started cooing, making funny faces, and smiling socially. He also started to discover his hands.

Then came 6 months, the month that many parents told us was a turning point. We were looking forward to that turning point - whatever it'd turn into. He started sleeping 9 hrs (with an adjustment in his schedule) at night for about a week, and then went back to waking for a feeding afterwards. Since A read in a book that babies 6-8 months may still wake once a night for a feeding, we decided not to wean him as suggested by our pediatrician. At 6 months, J was learning to make a variety of sounds including grunting and moaning (e.g., I'm bored! Entertain me!). He finally turned over at 8 months though doc now says that milestone is pushed back from 4 months since they started advocated sleeping on the back. He also started the beginnings of crawling at 8 months.

And here we are at 9 months. Only two more weeks away from 10 months, and then two months away from one year (I can hardly believe it!!).

A and I were just saying last night that it was like switch went off at 9 months. J went quickly from rocking back and forth on his butt to full-fledged crawling. He went from being able to flip onto his stomach from lying down to being able to sit up. He went from watching us play with his toys to wanting to discover them for himself. He went from listening to us read books and feeling the different textured surfaces in them to grunting when he wants you to flip the page and knowing exactly where the different textures are located in each book. J also likes to copy our facial expressions and gestures. It's so amazing!

I like that J has a mind of his own and is mobile. He's even starting to want to get up on his feet! He may complain when you take a toy away or complain when he wants to be out of the high chair, but hey, you'd be mad too if someone took away your iPhone while playing Angry Birds (play for free on Google Chrome) or if someone strapped you in a chair for an hour. Haha...