[T.A.C. 9 months old]

Guy Smiley (Papa Joe's name for Thomas) is now 9 months old. I call him my little butterball. He's such a chunk! I love him to pieces.

We're now entering the territory where Lee is calling him Tom. Tom and Mom sound so alike. I'm going insane!! "What?" "I said Tom, not Mom" "uggghhh...." 

Little man loves to crawl all over the house and find all the outlets, chords, and disgusting piles of dog hair and dust. He's a magnet for these things. His favorite toys right now are cans in the bottom of the pantry. He loves to crawl there and play for awhile. He is happiest outside in the sunshine. He lives in a bucket hat nowadays and is fitting into 12 mo and 12-18 mo clothes. He weighs 21 pounds.

Loves all food and will eat anything we give him. Likes to sit anywhere and just watch Leeland play, dance and sing. Hates it when he sees mom leave a room. Must. Sneak. Away. 

Loves to sing in church and dance and sing in the car. Loves to yell "grararararahhhhhhh" at Leeland. Lee is loud, so Thomas is loud too.

No teeth. No knee crawling. Lots of wiggle worm, Army Dan, pull-crawling and flip flopping all over the place. He pulls himself into standing in his crib and at Lee's trampoline. Pulls himself up onto the trampoline. Now the trampoline has become a hazard too, HA! 

Likes to mimic sticking his tongue out, waving, silly breathing sounds, and many words.

Says Dada, ball, baba, hi, and some form of the name Leeland, and brother. We caught him singing the Ninja Turtle theme song. It's on video, otherwise no one would EVER believe that one. It was INSANE!

He's just a big ball of personality. He's soooooooooooo happy or soooooooooo angry. He's always, always, smiling, kicking his legs and talking. He's my little love bug. 

Will gives kisses if you get in his face enough, but he mostly likes to full-open-hand push on faces that are in his face. He's my monster child! 

LOVES when I read to him. Need to do that more. Loves his crib and is always flipping all over the place. Sleeps on his side rubbing the ties on a tie blanket a friend had made for us. MUST HAVE THIS BLANKET OR WILL NOT SLEEP. 

Just this week FINALLY starting snuggling with us when we hold him and he's tired. He buries his head in the blanket and into your chest. Melts your heart. 

LOVE HIM.. my tiny Augs, Thomas, Tom Tom. 

Kels

[T.A.C. 8 months old]

Full score of names: Thomas, Thomas Augie, Augie, Augs, Augie Baugie, Tom Tom, Tommy Boy, T-Dog, Tommy, Tom, little man, little dude, bugga, monkey.

Does he know his name? Oh, who knows! I don't even know it!

8 months in. We love this boy. He is sooooo similar to Lee and sooooo different from Lee. Sleeps like a champ at night. Wakes for two bottles still. He holds them til they're dry and then passes out. (won't let us feed him anymore anyway. He will only feed himself a bottle. grrrrrr!) One diaper change around 11 pm or 2 am (whichever works best for a tired parent). Sleeps 7pm - 7am OR 6pm - 6am (more common). He's an angel. 

Loves "crawling" all over the house. No knees yet. Just Lieutenant Dan's it all over the place. It's like a worm, or a scoot? I don't know. He also gets to where he wants to be by scooting on his butt from place to place. He's so freaking stubborn. Usually he is covered in slobber and a ton of dog hair. It's disgusting. He doesn't notice. 

He's sick of purees, but he has no teeth, so he's still eating a lot of them. It's a joke feeding him. He wants to feed himself. I cut up just about anything into minuscule bites now and just load his tray. Cheese, fruit, cooked veggies, meat, bread, mac and cheese, you name it. 

What else? He's very ticklish in his armpits, under his chin, and in his inner thighs. LOVES baths in the big bathtub. Loves to splash and get his ears and face wet. Loves to play the full size piano on the floor. Loves to tap anything like a drum. Loves to shake his rattles and hold his toys up in the air to examine them. Loves to hear mom read books and sing (especially 5 Little Ducks) and to hear big brother sing (especially Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). He's a champ in the car. He either naps several times a day and you get a ton of great breaks, or he does not nap and you want to scream (and sometimes do). 

Loves to bounce on his bottom ALWAYS. Loves to babble and talk. "Words" as of now: dada and more (heard twice!). Mostly he just says "dah duh dah duh dah duh" a thousand times. My mom says that he says "hi" but I haven't heard it. I don't talk directly to him much. Leeland does most of the talking for all of us. Not sure if this is good or bad, but it's our reality. When you feel overwhelmed, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Everyone is alive, fed, diapered and hugged (A LOT).. it's good enough for now. 

Wants to have mom or Leeland in his sights at all times. If we both leave a room... well, the shit hits the fan in about 2.5 seconds. 

Navigating the waters of two kids, one becoming more mobile and one becoming more attitudinal... it's rough. As a family we have been home more, just spending time together. We haven't been socializing much at all. It's like a new life. Maybe temporary? Maybe permanent? Only time will tell.

We'll see if we get any teeth, any knee crawling, any pulling to a standing position type moves in the next month. If not, I'll do my best to not freak out, and instead just enjoy my little baby for who he is at this very moment. 

Kels