Steven turned 9 months last week, and a LOT has happened since I last posted on December 17. For one thing, he took his first steps literally the day after my last post. The first night it was 2-3 steps at a time, then 4-6 the next day, and by Christmas he was crossing rooms and starting to make smooth transitions between surfaces. Now walking is definitely his preferred mode of transportation and we've had to speed up our baby-proofing endeavors. Mike installed locks on almost all of the lower cabinets in the kitchen, and we also installed a gate between the family room and kitchen to keep him contained in the family room while I'm cooking or cleaning and don't want him underfoot in the kitchen. We also took all of the DVDs, board games, and non-baby books off of the shelves in the family room so they wouldn't be teething fodder. Now the family room is a pretty Steven-friendly zone, where I can feel comfortable leaving him unattended if I need to pop upstairs to throw in a load of laundry.
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| A favorite pastime, pre-DVD removal |
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Of course, Steven had his first Christmas since the last post, too. Mike had to work over the holiday week, so we had a small and quiet Christmas with just the three of us. Steven is still too young to really "get" Christmas. He did notice the different decorations above the mantle in the family room and he seemed curious about the tree, but other than that not much reaction. He seemed very confused when opening presents. Normally we try to stop him from tearing paper! But he did enjoy his gifts.
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| I didn't get a picture, but guess where the paper went next? |
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| What's this new thing? |
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| I don't know, but it's in my mouth now! |
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| Knute kept a close eye on the proceedings. |
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| My new bomber hat from the Raykovs! |
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| Go Cardinal! Beat the Badgers! |
After a busy week over the holiday, Mike had the next two weeks off. We enjoyed some downtime at home (although some of the time we spent babyproofing!) for the first part of his vacation. Steven helped cheer on Stanford to a Rose Bowl victory on New Year's Day, but that evening he was extra cranky and had a slight fever before bed. Then our little man who had been sleeping through the night consistently since 3 months woke up crying several times overnight and needing comfort. At about 3:00 am it occurred to me that extra cranky + fever + frequent waking = teething, and sure enough, the lower middle teeth made their appearance the very next day! Mike is a little melancholy over the loss of his toothless grin, but he's cute with his two little teeth, too!
After some time at home, we headed out to Minnesota for a belated Christmas celebration with Mike's parents. Nick and Krista and the girls came up for part of the weekend so the whole Unruh clan was together.
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| Grandma's wrapping paper was the most fun toy of all! |
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| Cousins inspecting each other |
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| Grandma and Grandpa in a magic shot where everyone is facing the camera! |
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| With Uncle Nick |
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| Helping Grandma open her package of new tops |
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| Playing with everyone's shoes in the front hall |
Steven had a great time exploring at Grandma and Grandpa's. The kitchen cabinets had all sorts of fun things and there were books and papers everywhere, not to mention shoes (a favorite--especially if they have laces!) in the hallway. He did have fun with some of the "real" toys as well, including the plastic food from the toy kitchen downstairs. He carried around a plastic chicken drumstick for quite a while, holding and chewing the appropriate ends, and spent a good bit of time with a plastic corncob as well. Mike takes this as a sign that he is a future Cobber.
After a week of visiting in Alexandria we headed home and had a few more days of vacation before Mike had to head back to work. A little more baby-proofing--this time anchoring the TV to the console. This was actually a bit of baby-proofing and a bit of Knute-proofing, as he likes to jump up and walk behind the TV. Steven found it all very interesting and investigated the toolbox thoroughly.
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| A little too heavy, but he tried! |
Overall, a busy month of growing and walking and teething and Christmas and trips and we are all exhausted but happy.
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| No more pictures, please! |
