This post covers Spear’s 9th month of life (the full month of August). He was 8 months old during this month.
Eating: Bottle feeding can be stressful. I know so often people talk about it being easier than breastfeeding but it has it’s frustrating moments too. (You can read my post about bottle vs breastfeeding here!). It’s hard when Spear isn’t interested in the bottle or wanting to drink it because I can see the amount of ounces and it can feel stressful that he’s not eating it all!
Spear is SO go-go-go that he doesn’t want to sit still to drink the bottle. Usually he’ll sit still (and hold the bottle himself) for the first few ounces then just be OVER it. I feel like I’m chasing down a baby calf and often feed him in some odd positions!
The rare moments that he does sit still are so sweet and I love him feeding himself because it means I can play with his soft hair and snuggle him!
How feedings go most of the time though…chasing down a busy baby!
Solids continue to do well. Spear finished up his first 30 foods this month (you can see them all here). I took a break from both breads and eggs after his rash when eating Cheerios and egg whites for the first time. I reintroduced both this month with NO issues! Not a single rash or bump whatsoever. So I went forward with other breads with less concern. He loves some toast with humus!
I also introduced meats this month and he wasn’t too sure about plain chicken
He LOVES eating with his siblings!
We started including him in mealtimes this month and he really enjoys eating the things we eat!
And Daddy made him his first pancake!
So proud of this happy eater! Now I just wish he’d stop finding tossing things off his high chair so entertaining!
Sleep: Spear continues to be a great sleeper! He is very much a high sleep needs baby (you can read the differences between high and low sleep needs babies here). One day during naps I heard a strange sound in his monitor so I went and looked at it and saw the inside of his mouth!!! I realized he figured out how to STAND in his crib and could reach the monitor camera!!! Time for switching up the crib…lowering the mattress and moving the camera!
He is SO proud about it!
Spear typically wakes up super happy from his nap. He is often awake when I come to get him but is happy and quiet and content until nap time ends. I love being greeted by this HUGE grin!
Sometimes he can still be sleepy and this is the look I get haha!
We lowered the crib this month and had another big milestone when we dropped his evening nap. Up until this age he’d been napping from 5-7 each night but we dropped it cold turkey because really he’s a bit old for it.
He did fine with the drop and we bumped up bedtime earlier and it helped him do better in drinking his bottles. But then as days went by that 5-6 hour was just SO ROUGH. I would be trying to make dinner and he’d just be exhausted. Crying, clingy. Typical witching hour type behavior. I’m thankful I’m friends with Val (the babywise mom!) because I chatted with her about it and she suggested just going back to a short cat nap.
We switched and started putting him down at 5 and waking him at 6 if he fell asleep. If he didn’t fall asleep then we’d just get him up around 5:30. It worked SO MUCH BETTER and allowed him the little nap he needed to be happy at dinner time and still allowed him to sleep fine at night!
I will say though the benefit of the days when he doesn’t nap is that he’s so nice and sleepy at bedtime and I get THE best snuggles! Oh my goodness I could soak it up. If he wasn’t such an exhausted wreck without the nap I’d totally drop it so I could get these snuggles each night! THIS is one of the things I’ll miss about having a baby!
Schedule (Since we did add back in the catnap I’m going to include it):
6:45-7:15: Up for the day. 6 oz formula.
Solids after liquid feeding
20 min of independent playtime if I don’t take Tess to school
8:45-9:00: down for nap
11:00-11:15: up from nap. 6 oz formula
independent playtime for 20 min if we don’t pick Tess up
12:20: solids with Tess for lunch when she’s home
12:45-1:00: down for nap
3:30-4:00: up from nap. 6 oz of breastmilk
20 min of independent playtime
5:00-6:00 cat nap if seems sleepy/fussy/whiney.
6:00: solids with family for dinner
6:40: bath and bedtime routine
6:45-7:00: bedtime bottle – 8 oz formula
Other Things with Spear This Month:
As I mentioned in his schedule independent playtime is going well! I’ve gotten SUPER consistent with it! He HATED it for a good while. Like cried entire time. I started with just 5 minutes then worked up until now we’re at 20 minutes per time. He usually fusses for a few minutes right when it starts (which he also fusses every single time we lay him down for bed so this doesn’t shock me) and he’ll typically start fussing towards the end of the 20 min time which shows me that 20 min is the perfect amount for him right now.
Silly Boy Spear
Spear is hitting milestones like crazy this month. Sitting up on his own AWESOME. Crawling AWESOME. And even pulling up to standing!!!
The pulling up may be a problem for our new furniture once he gets some top teeth!
Another milestone this month for Spear was attending Bible Class for the first time! I tend to wait a good long while before taking my babies to Bible Class. Tess and Kye handled it earlier because they were lower sleep needs. Britt and Spear NEED that morning nap to be able to make it through church services so it’s really tricky to be able to take him to Bible Class because it means a mini cat nap for morning nap and a fussy baby at time for services.
He did SO great in Bible Class though!!! He sat in his seat awesome and I was able to leave him with not a SINGLE tear the next week! With Tess I had to go to class with her for ages but Spear does so, so well with that!
In yet another milestone this month Spear just got on up out of his baby bath seat in the bathtub! He’s a free roaming bather now!
With Spear crawling and being into EVERYTHING it’s hard to keep him contained. With Kye we did Your Baby Can Read. I know, I know. They aren’t proven to work or actually help your baby read whatsoever. (Although don’t tell that to Zach…he’s convinced that Kye is such a strong reader because we did those videos with him haha). BUT there are other benefits to watching them…I know the “rule of thumb” is no TV until age 2 but some limited screen time is a positive thing in my opinion.
The videos are 20 min long with content being just words and repetition of the words and photos associated with the words. Very simple and basic. If watching them consistently helps my babies learn to SIT STILL and be FOCUSED on something then I think that’s a big benefit plus that gives me 20 min of time to get things DONE.
I tried having Spear watch it when we dropped the evening nap and he wasn’t having it at all. Couldn’t stand sitting there. Cried and wanted OUT and had no interest in the movie at all. Once we went back to the little cat nap I haven’t tried the movie again but I will once he drops it again!
Spears best buddy is our robot vacuum. Who needs an indoor pet when you can chase down the vacuum right? He LOVES it. If the laundry room door is open he crawls RIGHT in to it and turns it on to play with him!
Another distraction attempt…magnet letters. He’s too young to enjoy these either ha!
Spear loves everything the big kids love but especially this bouncy donkey toy. It’s so cute the way he can pull to standing now to really play!
I even picked up a walker for Spear to use during dinner prep time. Tess enjoyed it this month more than he did but I do think it’ll come in handy once we fully drop the cat nap as a way to keep him contained and entertained. It’s not something I’d use all the time but if it gives me 10 min of freedom from carrying him on my hip…sign me up!
We keep Spear’s room VERY baby safe and friendly so most of the time when he has free play we just shut all the other doors downstairs and leave his bedroom door open and he can play and play and we don’t have to worry about anything unsafe (his dressers are anchored). I love seeing him play with toys that he got at Christmas last year!
Videos of Spear:
- Chasing vacuum
- Catching vacuum
- Pulling up in Crib
- Waking Tess from Nap
- Spear has said “MAMA” a couple times but not consistently…I tried to get a video and of course he would NOT say it!
- Feeding Spear like a calf
- Playing Football
- Saying “dada” and “baba” (which Kye insists Spear is saying “brother” when he says “baba”)
- Spear Babbling
- Still giving those sweet sloppy kisses!
- Sweet sleep eating (one of those moments that I feel like might be a “last”)
Spear had lots of sibling time until school started and now the kids are gone most of the day so he’s got very limited quality time with them in the afternoons. But lots of Mommy solo time 😉 He is REALLY obsessed with Britt lately which I can see happening as they are SO much alike to me. Both very big kissers and affectionate and my “wildest ones” 😉 Natural BFFS!
Here are also the sibling comparisons at this same age:
