On your nine month birthday, I have just one question for you. Will you be my Valentine?
Today marks one of the last first holidays for you. There aren't too many left before you turn a year old! I was prepared with a cuddly stuffed puppy waiting on your high chair for you this morning. I couldn't let your first Valentine's Day pass without giving you a gift! Then again, I'm sure I'll be giving you little Valentine's gifts for years to come!
Your Daddy and I can scarcely believe how much you have grown. It's enough to make a parent laugh and weep all at the same time. I feel like I can hardly remember the tiny baby we brought home from the hospital. Even the three month old and the five month old are starting to get foggy, and it makes me want to cry when I realize that the little boy I have today will be changing soon enough.
You are finally able to sit up on your own! We've been waiting a while for that. You eventually topple over, but you can remain sitting unassisted for a bit of time. You still have the tendency to fall, sometimes on your face, but in time you will learn how to lower yourself. You are itching to crawl; in fact, you do a pretty good army crawl. You drag yourself around using your arms and you sort of wriggle and scoot to get from Point A to Point B. Really, you can cover a lot of ground! One day soon, you'll find that your knees have joined the rest of the party, and you'll be a full-blown crawler.
You've always been a good eater, and that remains to be true. You are now eating three "meals" a day: usually either cereal or fruit in the morning, bananas and snack puffs for lunch, and dinner is a vegetable and a fruit. You still love your mama's milk, though, and nothing is healthier for you to consume than that.
As far as sleeping goes, you are sleeping well through the night, with a very early bedtime of 5 or 5:30. You are still such a poor napper that I have to put you to bed early because you are so tired. I am still trying to improve your naps, but naps have never been your cup of tea. I won't give up, though!
You love to be twirled around! I cannot wait for the warm weather so that Daddy and I can take you to the park and give you your first push in the swing! You also love to knock down the towers I build out of your little toys... all day long!
Everywhere I go people tell me how handsome you are. Your blue eyes never fail to get compliments. I can't really disagree with any of it!
We love you, our darling Caleb-Bear!
Love,
Your mama
