short december.

Pumpkin Pie,

There is a song from, maybe, 15 years ago called "Long December," but I am going to tell you, this has been a fast December! It is almost half over, you are about to have your first Christmas, and I already have your NINE month well baby visit scheduled!

Daddy and I have bought all your gifts, and the grandmas and grandpa have been sending tons of goodies your way. We still have to find time to see Santa so you can tell him what you want. You are so easy going and open to strangers that I don't think we're going to get the obligatory screaming-on-Santa's-lap photo.

You are starting to express new emotions, which is just so precious. You think it is funny to try to tickle Daddy back, and I scared the willies out of you the other day with my new slippers. (I think you thought they were a stuffed animal, so when they suddenly moved, you were filled with fear!)

You are also doing all kinds of awful things with your sleep schedule. I don't know if you are trying to phase yourself out of two naps, or what, but a few days this week, you have taken one longer nap instead of two smaller ones. Other days, you have stayed up until almost 10, while other nights still, you go to bed at 7.

I'm really pushing the rice cereal these days. You are eating it once a day in the morning. You are a very messy eater and love to squish the food off the spoon, so I have taken to feeding you in the bathtub so I can wash you off right after. I want you eating more solids as you approach your first birthday, as otherwise, we will both be a mess when I inevitably go back to work.

You still seem to poop only when I put you in your excersaucer. What is up with that? Sometimes I think, maybe you are just a morning pooper, and I will keep you out of it all morning. You wake up from your nap, I set you in the saucer, and you let it fly! We go through a lot of laundry around here, to say the least.

I no longer have any sense of what clothes will fit you any more. You are just getting to be such a big boy! The other day, you wore a little zip up sweater and a pair of pants that I figured you would wear when you were walking around. You are very long and I can't wait to see your measurement's at your doctor's visit.

You are back to sticking your tongue out all the time, and you like dancing with me to Christmas music, and love any kind of whistling. I guess your nine month review will be somewhat abbreviated, but it has been a while since I recorded what you've been up to, and it's been going so fast, so I have to make sure not to forget!

We love you, little big man, and the person you are becoming!
Love, Mama and Daddy