9 months in 2019

Arthur is 9 months old now, it’s gone so quickly. But also feels like a lifetime. It certainly feels longer than when the amount of time I was pregnant.

I wish I could write more here. I wish I’d written about every day. All the little mundane things we did together, every little thing he learnt, but there just isn’t the time or energy.

I was going to a baby group on Tuesdays in a nearby village and met some lovely mums. The classes have finished now but I have found my mum tribe finally and so we still go out lots. There’s classes in the local libraries where they can play for a bit and then there’s reading and songs, it’s fun! It’s kind of mental, but fun.

He’s sitting up really well now and can sit himself up from lying down - he took ages to do this! He’s not quite crawling but he can certainly move with purpose in his chosen direction. It’s more of a worm movement than a crawl though and involves a lot of ineffectual thrashing around and perilous head banging. He also eats much better than he did before, he took a long time to get used to lumps! But he ate quite a lot of my carvery today so he’s over that now 🤣

He has gone through phases with sleep. He was great until about 6 months and then it just went to shit. I was up every hour and then would have at least an hour in the middle of the night where he would be inconsolable unless I was holding him. He was self settling fine before that so after trying everything we just had to roll with it. It lasted about 6 weeks and I felt like death, but he has improved again. For a week or two he was sleeping 7-6, having a feed and going back down until 8. That was a beautiful time. He’s gone mad again now and I usually end up awake for around 1/1.5hrs each night. Just learn to sleep kid.

He doesn’t really watch tv, he won’t sit still long enough. He used to sit in his bouncy chair but he learnt to escape so I bought him a bumbo, which worked for a little while but he can get out of that now too. He’s very determined! I hope one day he learns to sit and chill for 5 flipping minutes.

He loved his jumperoo more than anything but he seems to have gone off it a bit now. He LOVES the walker, that is a guaranteed hit no matter his mood but obviously I can’t take my eyes off him in that so it’s not as convenient as being able to put him in the jumperoo or chair! He will sit in the play pen sometimes, if the mood is just right, but he doesn’t seem to be occupied by toys yet. A lot of the other babies are but mostly the girls, so maybe it’s a boy thing. Ball pit balls keep him happy for 10 minutes though, I just give him the whole bag and he empties it out and then rolls around in all the balls. Babies are weird.