Christopher boy, you are nine months old! How has it been three quarters of a year already, when I feel like you were just born yesterday? Sometimes I look at you and I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude for the precious gift that you are to all of us. I truly believe that you have brought our family closer together as we all share in the joy that you bring to our everyday lives. Here are some of the ways you are growing and changing this month: 

• Your first word is now very clearly “Mama”. You know exactly what you mean when you say it and you use it quite strategically. It doesn’t take me long to get to you when I hear your sweet little voice call my name.
• Your “dada” sounds are also coming, but you don’t say it very consistently yet. You do, however, love the reaction you get from Daddy when you say it! 
• You are now standing unassisted for several seconds at a time. When we put you down on the floor, you always want to stand first and then after a few seconds, you’ll slowly sit down on your bottom. 
• As for walking, you are getting very fast at walking around the house, holding onto cabinets, drawers, furniture, etc. In fact, you’re pretty reckless as you throw yourself from one handhold to the next. Will this be the month you take off?
• I discovered this month that you are capable of climbing stairs if I let you. You spend most of your time in the upstairs of our apartment (the main level) and we keep a gate at the top of the stairs. The basement is usually Lego kingdom, so you don’t spend much time down there. However, the other day, I had you down there with me and you made your way straight the stairs and started heading up them!
• You and Mommy started a Mom/baby playgroup this month with some moms in our neighborhood. You absolutely love it when your new little friends come over to sing songs and nursery rhymes and read stories (in both Latvian and English). One of your favorite rhymes is called “Cepu cepu kukuliti” which is similar to our “Pat-a-cake” (which you also love)!
• I hesitate to say anything, just in case it’s a fluke, but you’ve had a couple of “better” nights of sleeping here lately. And by “better” I mean waking up every 2-3 hours instead of every 45-90 minutes. Maybe things are headed in the right direction?
• You have the sweetest little habit of getting shy when people talk to you. You shrug your little shoulders, smile really wide, and bury your face either in mommy or daddy’s shoulder (if we’re holding you) or in your own shoulder. It’s pretty cute.
• Speaking of your smile, you love showing off your new teeth. You now have three, the two middle on the bottom, and your top right front tooth. The matching left on on the top is just about to poke through.
• You now have a favorite corner in our living room where we keep your toys and books. The books are kept in a little cabinet and you know how to open it, pull out the basket, and start “reading”. It does seem like you occasionally go over there just to have a little “alone time” in this busy and crazy house full of girls! Daddy says he understands you completely!
• You like to look through your board books on your own, but you’ve also started sitting still for us to read them to you. A couple of your favorites are “Barnyard Dance” by Sandra Boynton and “Tas nav mans kucēns” or “That’s not my puppy!”
• You graduated this month from your infant car seat to a “big boy” carseat. It’s still reclined and rear-facing, but it sits up higher and you can see around and look out the windows better. It’s definitely made car riding a little more bearable for you!
• As for long car rides, you did really well this month on our trip to Estonia with Mimi and Papa. You were such a trouper in the car both ways, as well as going all over the city and museums while we were there. You also really loved spending time playing and reading stories with Mimi and Papa. Papa worked hard on teaching you to say his name, and you got pretty good at it by the end of the week!
• You’re not exactly the quietest baby. Sometimes you get in moods where you just want to sing/talk/yell quite loudly. Not because you’re upset, but just because you want to make yourself heard!

Baby boy, happy nine-month birthday. We love you and can’t wait to see what the next month will bring. 

Love,

Mommy and Daddy