Dear Tristan - 9 Months

Dear Tristan,
According to the baby books, this is the last month of tremendous growth before you slow down and level out. You are already wearing 12 month clothes, so long is your torso and sometimes when I see someone else holding you, you look more like a toddler to me than a baby because your legs hang down to our hips. You are going to be tall. We keep warning your brother that you are going to be bigger than he is, so he should be nicer to you… you know, not smacking you in the forehead with the palm of his hand when he walks by and I think he might be starting to listen.

The two of you are starting to play together. This mostly involves him dragging you around the playroom by your arm, while Mommy or Daddy, run over to stop him and then explain again that little brother is not a doll, but you love it all the same. You’re brother had discovered that you are an avid listener and that you will watch him intently while he holds one of his toys saying, “Let me show you how this works, Trist-tan,” over and over again. He’s starting to watch out for your fingers and toes when he shuts the playroom gate and best of all, (deep sigh of relief) he’s stopped beating the crap out of you. I’m not sure if this is a result of us being firmer with the time outs, or because it just got old but whatever the reason, I am so grateful. You are eating like a champ. You love all fruits, especially banana and are all about the cheerios. Cheese is a favorite too. You are still waking up in the middle of the night hungry. Usually it’s one or two times and every now and again, you sleep through completely, waking up around 6am for the day. Lately you’ve been sleeping until 7:30 which is a blessing. 7:30 is much easier for us than 6am.
You are such a bouncy thing. You bounce in our lap, while standing up hanging on to the sofa and even just standing on the floor while we hold your hands. You love to climb something. Anything. “Mommy or Daddy laying on the floor! Nothing better to climb!”. We have to keep your nails trimmed because nothing is worse than getting a fingernail up the nose, while you grab on using your velcoraptor like talons to climb over our head while we are laying on the floor. You’ll climb up over us and the slowly roll yourself off, landing in a heap on the floor, only to get back up and climb up again. Mommy and Daddy - Providers. Nurturers. Circus. You are the toughest kid I’ve ever seen. Nothing phases you. I hear that the second child is like this, but I’m in constant amazement of the tumbles that you can take. You’ve acquired the cold that’s been going around the family and you don’t seem to be bothered by it in the least. You Dad pointed out yesterday that when you are cutting teeth and making bone marrow all at the same time a cold is nothing and that you were probably looking at us with our Alka Seltzer cold plus like we were a bunch of wussies. Your Dad still isn’t working so you are getting to spend extra time with him right now which you love. Your Dad and I are in a constant state of stress over the lack of job but you don’t seem to feel it at all. You are the happiest baby on the planet. You are so quick with a smile, even if it’s just in your eyes. You light up the room with your smile when you look up and suddenly see anyone in the family standing there, (including the cat), you are always so happy to see us that you seem to glow. Although you may not see it on my face all of the time, because being a mom can be such a demanding job I want you to know that whenever I see you smile, it makes me glow too.
Love,
Mommy