Baby Update – Lil’ Ziggy is 9 Months Old!

Geez, I was hoping to have posted a little more this past month, but every time I started to write, I either encountered writers block, or I got distracted with something else. I didn’t really even think there was much to update on this month anyway, at first. Lil’ Ziggy grew and changed in so many big ways in the first several months of his life, and while he’s definitely still growing, he seems to have slowed down in the sense of larger achievements and milestones. But after reading about his age group on Baby Centre, I realized that he has been developing quite a bit, just in more subtle ways. He’s also experienced some neat things just in the past couple of weeks.

Stringing together two or three different syllables

Before, Ziggy was just making repetitive, monosyllabic sounds like “bababa” or “dadada”. Now, he seems to be stringing two or even three different sounds together to make hilarious, word-like noises like “dadeedi-ya!”. He’s usually very talkative when he wakes up from a nap. It’s almost like he’s trying to tell me about a dream he had or something. I can’t wait until he finally starts saying specific words for things, like calling me “mama”. Oh what a proud mama I’ll be.

Pulling himself up and lunging forward

Ziggy loves to grab hold of my hands and pull himself into a standing position. He’s also pushing up onto his hands and knees, migrating backwards, “walking” his hands so that he spins in a circle, and lunges from a sitting position forward to lying down. He’s still not crawling or scooting yet, but I think it’s only a matter of time before he puts all these skills together and realizes he can intentionally move from one place to the next. He still needs to realize that he can move his legs at the same time as his hands, but I have a feeling that it’s going to happen soon.

Eating all sorts of food, and loving bold flavours

It’s been fun watching Lil’ Ziggy explore new foods. He usually has oatmeal with a mashed banana or pears for breakfast, sometimes a bit of scrambled egg too if I’m making it for myself. Lunch is usually bread or a tortilla with peanut butter, applesauce and maybe some berries, and then a combination of homemade purees plus a bit of whatever we’re having for dinner.

I also love that he seems to enjoy bolder flavours, and I hope it means he’ll be more open to trying new things as he gets older. Last week, I took him to an Indian restaurant down the street from our house, and he had some of my lamb biryani. It wasn’t very spicy, but it had a bit of a kick to it, and Ziggy had no problems with it at all. He also loved the naan, which is not surprising. What IS surprising, is that he was not a fan of the yogurt that came with the meal! Of everything I’ve given him so far, the only foods he hasn’t liked are avocado and that yogurt. I’ve also given him butter chicken and Moroccan chickpea soup, both of which he gobbled down easily.

Saw the mountains for the first time

The last time we went to Banff, it was last summer when my parents visited our old place in Fort McMurray, and Lil’ Ziggy was a mere embryo. A couple of weekends ago, Chris had a Friday off and we decided to go to Banff to visit the Christmas store and have lunch. I love that we’re so close to the mountains now, it’s only about an hour away and it’s such a gorgeous drive. We were only there for a couple of hours, but it’s the perfect little daytrip for seeing some spectacular winter scenery.

Went on a horse-drawn wagon ride and sat on Santa’s lap

Last weekend, some friends of ours hosted a little Christmas party for all the babies and families in our mom group. Their beautiful home is just outside Calgary on an acreage, surrounded by the foothills and with the mountains off in the distance. It was such a lovely setting. Our gracious hosts hired the most Albertan cowboy I’ve ever seen to bring around a horse-drawn wagon to take us on a ride through the neighbourhood in the crisp winter air. Chris brought Ziggy over to the horses beforehand to see what would happen, but he didn’t really have much of a reaction. I think they were just too large for him to comprehend. He did stare at their moving butts for a long time during the wagon ride before he started getting restless, heh.

After the wagon ride, we went back into the house as quickly as possible and got Ziggy ready for meeting Santa! Now, I’m sure most of you know that babies can be unpredictable when meeting Santa for the first time, but Ziggy handled it like a pro. No tears, and he even cracked a couple of smiles, though he staunchly refused to smile for the camera. He was super tired by that point, but we got some really lovely photos to commemorate Ziggy’s first Christmas.

As a little FYI, I’ll be in Ontario for Lil’ Ziggy’s 10 month Baby Update, so I’m not entirely certain that it’ll be up on time. I’m sure I’ll have lots to report on, like how he does on a plane when he’s no longer sleeping 23 hours a day!

 

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