Dear Max,
You are now 9 months old! Where did the time go? I'm already getting so excited and planning your first birthday party. I don't care what anyone tells me, I want it to be a big deal!
You have changed a lot in the past several weeks. You now can stand up by pulling yourself up with the help of the couch, a chair, or whatever is near enough to you. You have two top teeth! You wave bye-bye, give high fives, clap your hands, and occasionally blow kisses. And you now even give kisses by either licking our cheek or leaning in with your mouth open and putting your mouth on our cheek.
The day after Christmas you got sick with Hand, Mouth and Foot disease. Since it gave you a sore throat I let you have Otter Pops. You LOVED them!
Sadly, at the same time you had a diaper rash and you were teething. You were one miserable little guy.
But you finally got better. Then a week later you developed bronchitis! You've had a rough go lately, but it seems you're finally doing much better. You have even started sleeping better (much to my relief).
You've never been overly interested in television, but the other day I turned on "Sesame Street" for you and you loved it. You kept bouncing and smiling.
You had your very first Christmas! You really liked unwrapping presents. In fact, for the few weeks before Christmas I finally had to give you your own wrapping paper to play with otherwise you would tear the paper of the present I was trying to wrap.
You got a lot of presents! Santa brought you a toy that is designed to help you learn to walk by standing and holding on then taking steps, then turns into a little car for when you're older. You refuse to walk with it! Instead you love sitting on it and having your dad and I push you around. You're so silly!
You love food! I mean real food. You eat baby food and take bottles just fine, but whatever we're eating you want! You enjoy cheese, noodles, ice cream, and pretty much everything else on my plate.
You're now a speed crawler too! I will put you down, and you're off on a mission. Most likely a mission to make a mess. You spend a lot of time taking movies off our shelves, books from the book shelves, and opening the cupboards and taking out the contents.
You are still such a happy little guy and such a joy to be around. Lately I've really felt sad that I'm not able to be home with you. I miss you all day when I'm at work. My favorite part of the day is when I leave work to get you. You always greet me with a big smile and put your arms up for me to pick you up.
You have a little friend named Eli at day care. I wasn't sure if you liked him much at first since he's a few months older and sometimes scratches you. But after being gone from day care for two weeks, you squealed with delight when you saw him. You love having a little friend to play with and he's doing much better sharing and playing with you.
I can't believe how many new things you've learned in the past few weeks. You never cease to amaze me. You are an amazing, bright, loving little boy. I'm so glad I have you. You make every day so much better by being in my life. I love you so much.
Love Always,
Mom
