Leander Roxas // Nine Month Update

Somehow we’ve blinked & reached 9 months with our sweet, sweet boy!! I can’t believe how fast the last 9 months have flown by – definitely faster than the 9 months I was pregnant with him!! I don’t even want to think about it, but his first birthday is right around the corner!! He is growing and changing so fast – it seems like every day brings new discoveries & changes! Leander is the sweetest, happiest, most chill little guy & we simply love him to pieces!

• In the last month, we have spent more time away from home, than time at home. If you think that’s crazy (or a typo), it has been (and it’s not). Leander traveled to 3 new states this month (Connecticut, Massachusets, and Ohio), visited 5 new amusement parks (Quassy, Lake Compounce, Six Flags New England, Idlewild, & Cedar Point), and an indoor water park (Castaway Bay). Additionally, we spent 19 total days at Deep Creek Lake (we just got home from a 10-day-stay yesterday!) To further bring this point home, that means that over the last month, Leander has only slept in his own crib 9 nights – and slept in his pack-n-play 22 nights – that’s insane. He is an incredible traveler! He doesn’t mind riding in the car at all & loves riding in the stroller thru amusement parks! Sleeping all of those nights in his pack-n-play has been a bit challenging (he definitely sleeps best at home, in his own room, in his crib), but overall, he’s been a saint!
• Okay, there was one moment in our travels that Leander was not a saint – on our way home from New England (it’s about an 8-hour drive), we experienced a bit of a “situation”. We were about 90 minutes from home when Leander got very quiet. He had been cooing & chattering with Braelynn, but suddenly things got silent in the backseat. Derrick & I didn’t even really notice until the smell of poop suddenly overwhelmed the car. I glanced back at the backseat & instantly jumped back there – yelling at Derrick, “We need to pull over, now!” (To which Derrick replied, “Who’s throwing up?”) Leander had had a bit of a diaper explosion & as it pooled in his car seat, his chubby little hands found it & he proceeded to squish it everywhere (and he was attempting to eat it – hence me jumping into the backseat). I pinned his hands down (getting myself covered in poop at the same time) and held him there until we were able to stop. It was a gigantic mess, to say the least. We cleaned everything up the best we could, but oh wow, it was awful. It succeeded in turning my stomach completely over & I wasn’t able to eat anything the rest of the night – it was terrible. Thankfully, Leander thought the whole thing was quite hilarious (and looking back, we’ll always remember our New England trip as “the one with the poop”) but oh my, that’s something I never want to do again!
• Leander attended his first Norwin Community Picnic at Idlewild Park & Soakzone this month! He’s a pro at navigating amusement parks already, so it’s no surprise that he had a blast at Idlewild! His favorite activity was “swimming” in the ball pit at Jumpin’ Jungle & splashing in the Soakzone with his cousin Alethea!
• Speaking of splashing – Leander has figured out that bathtime equals splashtime! He thinks it’s absolutely hilarious to splash half of his bathwater out of the tub/sink/whatever-aparatus-he’s-getting-washed-in & we all find it pretty hilarious too (until we have to clean up the flood, of course). He just laughs & laughs & splashes & splashes!
• Leander learned a new trick this month!! While we were away last week at the Lake House, my Mom started prompting him to show her his muscles. She would ask him, “How strong are you?” or “Leander, are you strong?” and by the end of the week, he would promptly respond to either of those questions by squeezing his chubby hands into fists & showing off his “muscles” – it is literally the cutest thing you ever did see!!
• Leander also learned how to wave this month! He’s been doing this “thing” with his hands for a few weeks & we weren’t sure if he was actually waving or was trying to sign “all done” (yep! we’re teaching him basic sign language just like we did with Braelynn). But, this past week, the dots all connected and he started actively waving back at people when they’d wave at him!
• He still army crawls around. We’ve seen him pop up onto his knees & crawl “properly” for a moment or two, but then he always drops back down onto his belly & army crawls forward. He’s so fast & efficient – “knee crawling” is just too slow for the little guy!
• He figured out how to push himself from a crawling to a sitting position this month! We didn’t even see him do it the first time either! I had sat him down on the floor to play (sitting position), and as I walked away to switch the laundry, I saw him flop down onto his tummy. A few minutes later (laundry effectively switched) I walked back thru, to see him sitting upright again. I looked at Derrick, “Did you sit him back up?” He shook his head no. We watched him the rest of the night, but never saw him do it again – until we put him to bed! Typically, he doesn’t really cry when we put him to bed – he knows his bedtime routine & simply goes to sleep. But that particular night, he cried and cried. After a few minutes, I peeked in on him via our video monitor, and lo and behold, he was sitting up in bed! It was like he sat himself up, but couldn’t figure out how to lay back down!
• Leander has become obsessed with this table Nana & Papa bought him for Christmas last year (when he was only a few weeks old!) It’s meant to encourage little ones to stand, as it’s the perfect height for them to pull themselves up and has all sorts of buttons & lights & sounds it plays. Since he figured out how to pull himself up to his feet at the end of last month – he’s been practicing ever since & has just gotten really good at standing at his little table! Unfortunately, he’s also taken a few sort-of-scary tumbles from losing his balance, but it’s exciting to watch him practice & practice & get better & better!
• Along with that, he’s figured out how to pull himself up onto his knees & balance there. No hands required either!
• He officially “found” his reflection in the mirror this month! As in, he will now seek out the mirror, just to see his handsome reflection! He will smile at himself, talk to himself, and he’s even tried to lick himself – it’s hilarious!
• Speaking of licking – Leander has sort of figured out how to give kisses! I say, “sort of” because his big, open-mouthed kisses always turn into him trying to actually bite you! Which, he thinks is absolutely hilarious of course! In other words, if he looks like he’s coming in to give you a kiss, just beware that he actually might be trying to bite your nose! (With his 6 teeth, he has turned into quite the baby shark & has formed the unfortunate habit of trying to bite not just toys & items, but people too – I had quite the mark on my leg for a few days where he bit me really hard one day – yikes!)
• He has become very attached to Mama (which I just love). If he can’t see me, he’s fine, but the moment he can see me, he’s army crawling my way, saying, “Mama, mama, mama”. I love it.
• Along with saying “Mama”, he’s also started saying, “Nnn nnn” when he wants to nurse! He definitely is a talker (he does have to keep up with his big sister after all). He’s also started doing this growling thing – just growing into his inner bear I guess.
• Leander got his first “big” boo-boo this month. We were at the Lake & I had sat him down on the kneeboard (truth be told, I really wanted to take his picture, so I set him there & backed away to snap a cute photo). As he was sitting there, he realized that he wanted a stone (to chew on), so he leaned over, over, a little too far over, and ended up face-planting into the stones. Ugh, talk about Mama feeling horrible. He had quite the swollen bump under his eye, plus a nice shiny black & blue mark, but thankfully, it’s healed up super fast!
• We tried to introduce Leander to puffs this month – he did not like them. He gagged & choked & sputtered & we gave that up really quickly. I tried to give him a piece of banana in one of those little mesh bags that hold food for babies and they can munch on (but is safe because they can’t get big bites & choke), but he preferred to chew on the handle over the banana. We also tried to give him a taste of watermelon & he did not appreciate that either. Oh well. He’ll get there eventually!
• Did I mention that Leander is a mover? He literally motors around everywhere. He loves to crawl around & pick up tiny things (you know, like dirt, and leaves, and stray stale food) and his new favorite obsession is splashing in the dog water (see where I wrote above about him splashing at bathtime). Thankfully, Braelynn has been extra alert with her tiny toys & making sure she only plays with them when Leander isn’t on the floor. She is such a good big sister, constantly keeping an eye out on her brother & sharing her (bigger) toys with him! She has also started taking the initiative in trying to pick him up and/or drag him away from certain areas that he’s not allowed to be (which is not really cool), so, we’re working on that. He is utterly obsessed with her though & laughs at just about everything she does!

Here are his Nine Month photos! It blows my mind to look back & see how much he’s grown & changed – One Month photos & Two Month photos & Three Month photos & Four Month photos & Five Month photos & Six Month photos & Seven Month photos & Eight Month photos. Time can slow down anytime now!

(Just in case you thought taking these photos was easy? This last photo is what I was seeing most of the time! Little man is on the move & sitting still is not on the agenda!)

If you’d like to follow along with what our little guy is up to on a more weekly basis – I’m taking weekly photos of him (just like I did with Braelynn) too! I post those updates every Monday on my personal Facebook page, as well as my Instagram account!