Parenthood: 9 Month Update

Mar 24

Mar 24 Parenthood: 9 Month Update

Time really needs to slow down because it feels like I just shared our last parenthood update! Tatum’s now 9 months old, and he’s actually been earth-side longer than he’d been in my belly! While the last few months have been uneventful due to lockdowns and stay-at-home orders in Ontario, Tatum’s become so interactive and seeing his changes and watching him grow has helped being (mostly) stuck indoors a little less boring.

Since turning 6 months back in December, Tatum’s started to sit on his own and “play” with his toys (his idea of playing is mostly biting and banging them together). We decided the best set up for his play mat would be to place it in the living area, so we pushed our coffee table out to the corner to give him a large open space to play.

Playing with his Mushie stacking cups — *Playing with his* *Mushie stacking cups*

After weeks of encouragement on his tummy, Tatum began to rotate and crawl backwards. A few more weeks later and he finally started army crawling forwards. It seemed to tire him out quickly at first, but these days he moves around so often (and fast!) and is now the one tiring us out, having to chase him around all corners of our condo. He’s a curious little guy, touching and tugging at pretty much anything he can get his hands on, so we’re taking the necessary steps to baby-proofing what we need to. Tatum’s also learned how to stand while leaning back against the wall, and cruising, which is taking sideway steps while standing and holding onto something for support.

*Modeling the Patagonia jacket he received from Ninong Marvin for Christmas*

Just before the new year, Tatum began teething. His two bottom teeth are now fully out, while his top two front teeth have recently made their debut. We’ve been able to introduce more foods and with his new teeth, he’s able to tear more easily through tougher things. He’s pretty much tried most of the common allergenic foods and we’re so relieved he still hasn’t had any reactions to anything! Some of his new favourite foods include buttermilk pancakes, meatballs, burgers, strawberries and shrimp.

He’s now outgrown his Boon bathtub! — *He’s now outgrown his* *Boon bathtub*!

It still amazes us how big Tatum is, especially if we’re basing it on his adjusted age. He’s started wearing size 5 diapers and we recently bought him his clothes for the summer—most of which are sized for 18-24 months, and some 2-3 years in brands that run a little small. Before he turned 9 months, we sadly had to store away his infant car seat and he’s now graduated to his convertible car seat. We’ve even swapped out his old bath tub with a significantly larger one, and all the extra space seems to encourage non-stop splashing.

While we’re on the subject of how big Tatum’s gotten, we’ve already started to plan his birthday! It’s proven to be a challenge with constantly changing government regulations. Right now we feel our best bet is to host an intimate lunch at a restaurant, and a short Zoom call for a much larger group of family and friends to wish him a happy birthday. We’re just crossing our fingers we’ll be able to throw something cute and memorable, no matter how small or distant it’ll have to be!

It makes me sad knowing that my next update will be the last of this series (we’re going to have a freaking 1-year old!). The next few months until then will probably feel like a blur, but we’re going to continue taking things day by day. We’re looking forward to taking advantage of the warmer weather and spending more time outdoors—while being safe, of course!