Denial

I truly do not know how this happened, but this little guy is NINE MONTHS OLD today! I can't get over it. He is supposed to be my little baby forever. I hold him, I squish his cheeks with kisses and cuddles every possible second, I get hugs and pats from him, smiles and laughs. He is starting to babble and chats with me all day long. I really am having a heart attack about this and I'm not sure why. I'm not ready for him to be any bigger than a tiny baby. Nine months is WAY too close to one year and I'm shuddering just thinking about it. He is just so sweet, so soft, so perfect. I know its the age-old question of motherhood, but why can't I keep him this way forever?

At nine months old Will is an absolute gem. He gives his laughs out very sparingly, so I think I delight in them even more because of that. Although, Ruthie can usually pull a full-on belly laugh out of him at any given moment because they are best buds like that. I have to work really hard by tickling him under his chin with kisses and if he's in just the right mood I might get one. Mostly he just chuckles under his breath in the most enchanting way. But that full-on laugh? Melts my heart every. single. time. I just can't get over this boy. 

What else? He is starting to do away with getting up to eat once a night and has slept through the night for about two weeks now. He loves to eat but mostly only when he can feed himself. He loves that and will chuckle under his breath to himself in his high chair. I love it. He also chuckles to himself after he's finished drinking a bottle, just sits there and chuckles, as if everything in his world is so perfect he just has to laugh. I love that too. Last night I fed him ice cream for the first time (Ruthie had her first ice cream from Grandpa when she was four months old!) and he could not get enough! Ruth could take ice cream or leave it, she likes other treats better. But from his response last night, I think Will is going to be my ice cream-eating buddy for life. He was in heaven! 

He is very content when in motion. He crawls around incessantly, pulling everything out of every drawer at his level. He's still doing the army crawl but he is FAST and so adorable at it. He loves to be in the stroller and will also be content for hours in the carrier on my back. He's been through quite a bit--RSV, croup, now they think asthma. I still use the nebulizer now and again and he's getting to be quite the champ at sitting patiently while breathing in all the albuterol. Him and the doctors office, it makes my heart squeeze just thinking about it. Luckily he loves being held and when he's been sick we just cuddle all day and it makes both of us feel better!

He's learning fast what life is like living with Ruth. When she takes a toy and I don't notice right off, he watches and the minute she sets it down he takes off at his fastest crawl and snatches it back up! He also squawks pretty loud when she pesters him but never really cries about it, haha. He likes to hug her and kiss her and bite her, he loves her hair (or rather, grabbing fistfuls of it at a time) and he loves watching her do silly things. That's usually how she gets him to laugh so easily. Anything from banging her head on a couch cushion to hitting an empty plate at the dinner table. It's all pretty hilarious to him.

Will loves to play the piano and will sit on my lap for 15 minutes or more content to just jam out and listen a bit. He is also my cuddly man. He still falls asleep in my arms (Ruth never did that, ever!) and he'll fall asleep pretty much anywhere with any amount of noise too! He also moves really easily once asleep.  Ruth and Will are in the same room, but since they both go down at 7, they keep each other up trying to fall asleep. So I put one in my bed and then when they're both asleep move them back. He is like a little bug that just curls up wherever you plop him down. I love it. 

His big brown eyes are just like his daddy's--so, so dark! He has eight teeth, his hair is still blonde, and lately he is SO chubby and solid-feeling it's exhausting carting him around! He is such a happy baby and plays really well on his own, rambling around the floor all day. I just can't get over the fact that he's nine months old. What a precious, perfect little man. I'm excited for you to get big and to play even more with Ruth and for all the adventures you will bring, but today I'm a little bit sad that when I hold you your little dimply legs dangle off my lap and your body doesn't quite curl up next to me. I'll miss those soft, soft baby cheeks that I have loved and kissed so much. But I will love you forever, my little man Will.