Letters to Mason: Nine Months

So here we are at 9 months since our little Mason came into this world. This is my favorite age so far- seeing how much he's grown and how his little personality has started to come out. Up to this point we've been parenting, reading books/articles, etc and the past month has been the ultimate wing it attitude in the Tezna household. We've been so busy with travel and life that we've had little to no time to do simple things like write down which tooth Mason is cutting (he's cutting his 7th!) and what food he's had that he likes and doesn't like, printing out pictures for his baby book, etc. When I ask myself why we're so busy it reminds me that we have formed this perfect schedule and routine and its so tightly packed that we are exhausted from it at the end of the day and with no time to do anything else. No worries, Mason just grows while we blink and he doesn't much care for our routine or schedule.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Mason has kept us busy! Now that he is mobile (as in we now chase after him while he crawls runs at the speed of light ) we seem to spend more time making sure he's not getting into anything he shouldn't, baby proofing that one thing we forgot about (oh what pilot light in the gas fireplace that he insists on sticking his little tiny finger through to touch it?). Additionally, bed time is certainly not what it used to be, he is so interested in everything around him that it is a solid 30min to an hour long process to get him to settle down (thankfully we got black out shades and a sound machine to help with this). One more fun little tidbit: changing Mason's diaper has now become a mission impossible in which it takes two people army. We'll be steam cleaning our carpets several times a year now...

Mason's personality, as I was saying, has started to show and it's starting to give us a glimpse of what to expect for him as a toddler and boy we are excited and terrified. His emotions are also exaggerated (cue extreme screaming because we are changing his diaper or because we took a toy away because he insists on carrying it with him to bed).

But through all of that we are seeing this sweet, loving, fun little boy who loves to play and laugh. -this is where it all stops and nothing else matters. That smile, that dimple, that wet slobbery kiss you get after he's had a mouthful of prunes, yea, that's love. In all seriousness though, books and apps about development don't do justice to what you actually experience as your little, once inactive and unresponsive, child is suddenly giving back three fold in love and affection. I never imagined how proud I could be upon seeing my son learning to crawl, or getting up on his own (yea we do that now). It's hard to leave in the morning knowing that you'll miss something or that you wont be the recipient of every smile for that day.

This month, Mason started eating solids, actual solids... some of his favorite dishes are mac and cheese, anything pasta, and all fruits. We started letting him try and explore with different flavors and allowing him to try eating with his own hands which he's getting better at the hand mouth coordination daily. We've also started sitting him down with us at dinner, and he loves that. Something about being at the same height as the rest of us...

 

Mason took his third trip do Disney making him I'm sure the only infant with that many flight miles under his belt (he has two more flights scheduled this year). Freaked out as we were because of his new found ability to move and scream when not happy, he proved to be the best behaved child on that flight. He may have laughed harder than some people wanted to hear but it beats screaming in your ear for two hours. To the three hundred people on our flight, you're welcome. Disney was a blast with him this time around. He was eating up all the character visits. He loved "kissing" the characters on the nose ( little did they know he is teething and just wanted to chomp down on something) and he loved the rides. He enjoyed going on the stroller and going around to the parks, we took many breaks, ate well and enjoyed a sunny week in florida. Traveling is getting easier because we've gotten "good" at it not necessarily because its easy to travel with a 9 month old. He slept "ok" in his sleeper and overall did a great job at keeping up with us and us with him.

 

While at Disney, we scheduled for Mason to get first haircut at the Harmony Barbershop in the Magic Kingdom. They have a "first haircut" package which included a very knowledgeable stylist who knew just what to do to keep Mason entertained while she cut his hair (covered him in Mickey stickers which he then attempted to peel all of them one by one).

Mason's physical development is an all time high, trying to walk by holding onto furniture, trying his luck at letting go of one hand and learning to get back down. One good thing about our sudden ultra vigilant vision is that we don't miss anything he does! Mason also got to go on his first swing ride, one of many firsts this month.

 

Life is complete in our house, we love spending time watching him do everything for the first time and learning mountains of information by the day. We're so incredibly blessed and know that we're lucky to have been chosen to be the parents of this child and we can only but pray that we have the ability and love to show Mason how to be a good, humble and loving man.