Tobin's Nine Month Birthday

Isn't it great how babies get to celebrate their birthday every month for a whole year? :)

So, yesterday, Tobin turned nine months old...but before I get to that, I want to share the beauty of nature around our home that drew me in yesterday afternoon. I had gone outside to feed the animals, thinking to do it as quickly as I could so I could hurry back inside...but before I had gotten my chores done, I was captured by the unique beauty of a late afternoon in the fall. I did hurry back inside, but only to get my camera so I could hurry back outside to take pictures. :)

The first thing that caught my eye was this tree...
...every year, it astonishes me to see the leaves change colors. Such a gorgeous transformation!
And then I noticed how, if the sun is shining just right, even the watering trough shines brilliantly...

As I walked over to the woodshed to shut the doors, I noticed the pleasing sight of a tall stack of wood, ready for winter fires...but then I noticed my shadow against it. Even though Morning did a wonderful series of "Shadow Shot Sunday" posts, I would never have thought of planning to take such a picture (finding a place, waiting for the right light, etc.), but the strong light shining behind me created the perfect opportunity...and for that, I was grateful.
Then I walked by the garden and noticed the bright red peppers still hanging on the vine, shining in the late afternoon light. Although frost will soon be nipping at these plants, I plan to have the peppers safely harvested and tucked away in the freezer before then.

Across the garden, in the fencerow between our land and the neighbor's field, stands this crimson column of leaves that has been intriguing me. I don't know what it is, but I admire it every day.
After my sojourn with the camera outside, I returned to the house and opened the door of Tobin's room to find this:
A happy, smiley nine-month old boy, awake after his nap, surrounded by his stuffed alligator and bear and a special blanket that Millie from the barbershop made for him. Only recently have I felt comfortable even having anything in his crib, but he seems to enjoy the toys and at least the blanket has a lot of holes in it so even if it got on his face, it wouldn't cause too much trouble. Actually, where the blanket normally gets is under him...so much for keeping him warm!

Here are some tidbits about Tobin at this stage of his life:

~ he weighed 16 pounds and was 28 and 1/2 inches long yesterday at my dad's office...he also received two shots, and cried a little but recovered fairly quickly...I was a little concerned about his light weight, especially after holding a baby in the church nursery yesterday morning who is about half Tobin's age but weighs 18 pounds...Dad said, "I think if you look at what David weighed at 9 months, it would be about the same as Tobin's weight"...sure enough, I looked in David's baby book; and at 9 months, he was 16 and 1/2 pounds...that was comforting :)

~ Tobin has no teeth yet; and once again, I had to look in his brothers' baby books to compare...Josiah got his first tooth when he was 9 months old, but David didn't get his first until he was 13 and 1/2 months old--quite late!...when they did come in for David, the top front ones came first, rather than the bottom front teeth which is normal

~ recently I've gone through Tobin's clothes, packing away the ones that are too little and getting bigger clothes out of the storage boxes...I discovered that he has very few sleepers in the 12-month size, and I wasn't sure why--until I remembered that Josiah was 12 months old in the summer, in Israel, and didn't need many sleepers there in that heat...even for David, by the time he reached that size, it was spring; and apparently he didn't need that many either...usually I have plenty of clothes for Tobin from the things that his brothers wore, but I'm thinking that this winter baby of mine just might need a few more warm, cuddly, 12-month sleepers!

~ Tobin continues to be a pretty good eater...I think his favorite food right now is probably yogurt, but he's also been thoroughly enjoying finger foods, like Cheerios and the fruit and veggie baby food puffs that are made these days...yesterday was the first day that he seemed able to very consciously move his hand to pick up a puff and then get it into his mouth...he didn't succeed on every try, but was surprisingly consistent...it's a huge blessing to be able to put those on the highchair tray in front of him and have him feed himself part of his meal!

~ he seems to be in a period of extremely rapid development...my parents keep commenting on how much he's changing in just a very short amount of time...he's so social: vocalizing as if to really express what's on his mind and even moving his arms as if he's waving...of course, this is the period of wondering "did you really mean to do that, or did you just accidentally say "mama" and wave goodbye??"...but even if it's mostly accidental, it still shows that he's on the path of learning how to communicate in those ways

~ he very easily rolls over and can scoot himself around that way, but he's definitely not crawling or even showing any signs of being near that skill...he's not sitting up by himself either...I'm not the least bit concerned because my babies always tend to be quite late in reaching those milestones...we have noticed, however, that when he's in the circular farm toy, he spends a significant part of the time actually standing up and supporting his own weight...with crawling or sitting up or walking, I have the attitude, "he'll get there...no worries...I'll keep enjoying this pre-mobile easier-on-me time for a while!" :)

~ Tobin very easily goes to sleep at night (and at naps, for that matter), and is usually more than ready by 8:00 p.m...I've been trying to keep him up a little later the past week or so because he's been waking up in the morning a little earlier than I'd like...maybe it's because the sun hasn't come up yet by 6:00 a.m., but I tell ya, when he wakes up in the 6:00 hour, it's tough on me (even though I'm incredibly grateful for the 10 straight hours of sleep he's just had!)...I'm so completely not a morning person...if only it were light outside when I first heard his wake-up sounds, it would be so much easier!...oh well, what can you do?...he still takes two naps which are usually a few hours each...if he hasn't gotten his normal amount of sleep during the day, once in a while he even needs a short third nap in the early evening...he's an excellent sleeper for which I'm continuously grateful

~ Tobin LOVES to watch his big brothers play...in fact, in the afternoon when Josiah and David are having quiet playtime (each in separate rooms, of course, or else it wouldn't exactly be quiet), I'll often put Tobin in the bouncy seat and set him where he can watch one brother, then I'll move him after a while so he can watch the other one, and then I'll tuck him in bed for his nap...he is so entertained by them, and both Josiah and David have learned how to do things to make him laugh...they are great with him, and often come running with a "I want to give him a hug and kiss" when they hear me starting to sing his lullaby before I put him in bed

~ I'll end with a Tobin first: today was the first day that he--drumroll, please--took off his own pants...none of my children has ever been the kind of chronic undresser that I've heard about from other moms, so I was very surprised to enter Tobin's room after his afternoon nap and find him pantless...Tobin was at one end of the crib, and his pants were at the other, and he looked mighty pleased with himself...silly goose :)

Tobin, you are an unspeakable treasure and a beautiful reminder that God is indeed good. We give heartfelt thanks for the past 9 months. What would we ever do without you?