Palmer Family Chronicles: 9 Months Old

Sumner is 3/4 of a year old! Before I started writing this month's entry I got choked up because the screen saver was playing a slideshow of pictures from when Sumner was between 0-3 months old. The feeling I felt was bittersweet. In one way the pictures made me sad because it was just another reminder of short life is and that he will never be that same age again. But in another way it made me feel happy because Sumner has grown and developed so much since then. For that I am thankful.

Cousins

This has been a fun month for us, and of course has gone by way to fast. We had a family get together at my Aunt Connie and Uncle Wayne's house, so Sumner got to spend time with his cousins. We also went back to the Clay Spot to make his Gammie a flower pot for her birthday. Sumner celebrated his first Valentine's Day and went to the allergy specialist in Albany for the first time. By the way, Sumner was awesome at the allergy doctor. I give all the praise for his behavior to God, because I prayed about it so much. He had to have the allergy test done on his back, and I just was not sure how he would handle it. Thankfully, he never cried. He was so patient and sweet. Everyone in the office couldn't believe how well he behaved. We found out Sumner is allergic to green beans peaches, cocoa, penicillin (mold), grass, dust mites, and cats. The doctor recommended we buy a HEPA filter vacuum, a crib encasing. and special anti-allergen spray for the rugs. He also said to never use a humidifier. We bought everything he said to buy and no longer use the humidifier. Hopefully, we will see good results! As far as the food allergies go, none of them were bad enough to say he could not have them. They may just cause him to have cold like symptoms or develop a small rash if he eats too much of them. These allergies are not the same as the milk protein allergy he has. These allergies refer to allergies similar to seasonal allergies. The milk protein allergy has to do with his stomach not being able to digest milk products. His doctors say he will hopefully begin to outgrow the milk protein allergy around the age of 18 months.

Allergy Doctor

Last month, Sumner started crawling. He isn't walking independently yet, but is very close. He cruises along furniture, walks around the entire coffee table, and stands with his hands on a wall or door and walks down it. When I reach out my hand to him, he pulls himself up and walks beside me, just holding on with one hand. He can walk with his pushing walker independently, but I don't let him yet because I am afraid he will push it out from under him. I do let him walk and push it when I am walking behind him so I can catch him if I need to. His new babble for this month is bye bye. I don't think he says with understanding, but he will repeat it when you say it to him or he will just say it over and over again at random times. I do think he is starting to understand what it means when someone says "bye bye" though. When I get ready to leave a room and want him to come along I say "Sumner, bye bye" and he usually looks up to see my expression, and starts crawling towards the door. He also understands what "no, no " means. When I tell him "no, no" with a stern voice, 9 times out of 10 he stops whatever it was he was doing and moves on to something new. Sometimes if its something he REALLY wants and I tell him "no, no" he cries. Right now the things I have to tell him "no, no" about are:

Taking the picture frames off my coffee table
Playing with cords
Unraveling the toilet paper in the bathroom
Trying to stand up in the bathtub
Refusing to let me change his diaper or dress him

Playing with doors

Sumner's latest fascination is with doors. He loves to open and shut them. He will sit at one forever just pushing it shut and then pulling it back open. This fascination has led us to baby proof the house. We now have latches on all the cabinets and drawers in our kitchen. We haven't done the ones in the bathrooms yet because we keep those doors closed. By the way, when we leave a door open, he notices it immediately The moment he spots it, he starts breathing really fast and does a crawling sprint towards it!

Sumner still loves being outside, too. We have had a lot of rain and cold weather over the past month, so Sumner hasn't been going outside as much. I can tell he really misses it. Matthew started building a deck in our backyard. On the days it is too cold for him to go outside, I let him look out the window at Matthew and his Poppie working. Sometimes I even open the door for a minute so he can "talk" to them. As soon as I shut the door and walk away he cries and cries. Sometimes if they are where he can see them from our french doors in our living room he will stand up at the door and just stare at them, whining. Also, whenever he hears the door leading to our garage open he stops whatever is doing and crawls as fast as he can to the door, hoping to get out. I always shut it before he gets too close, and of course he cries.

Sumner has learned to clap this month, too! He started partially doing "patty cake" last month, but now he will sit and clap randomly. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen! He also knows to clap when something good has happened. I say "YAY!!!" and his eyes will light up and his hands go to clapping.

Now for the basics! Sumner still wears size 3 diapers. He eats two meals a day (lunch and supper) consisting of homemade vegetables, fruits, and some meat meals (chicken and rice, pot roast, etc.) He usually drinks about three-four (8 oz) bottles a day. He has gotten away from taking a third, late afternoon nap. Every once in a while he might need one, but usually he doesn't. He sleeps from about 7:30 pm-6:30 am. However, we have had a few wake ups the past few nights. He can fit into 9 month clothes but they are tight. I have started buying 18 month things because I am hoping he can wear them longer than what he has been wearing things. He grows so fast that I am buying a brand new wardrobe every other month! I took him to the doctor March 6th because he started having a bad cough and I wanted to catch it before it turned anything. He weighed 21 lbs 3 oz with clothes on! He is a solid little thing! There haven't been many changes in Sumner's schedule in the last month. A typical day looks like this:
6:30 or 7 wake up
8:00 bottle
9 nap
11:00 lunch
1:00 nap
2:30 bottle
5:30 supper, then bath
7:30 bottle and bedtime

His favorite spot... in front of the window

It is clear to see, Sumner continues to be the sunshine in his parent's eyes. Life is so much different than what it was this time last year, and I couldn't be happier about it! We go for his 9 month wellness visit in two weeks. I will post an update about his visit then.

Dear Sumner,

Thank you for making my life so much better than I ever imagined it could be. Things that use to mean the world to me no longer matter. You have changed my priorities, and in a great way. It has only been nine months since you came into my life and I already feel like I am a better person because of you. I love you so much and I can't wait to see all of the new things you learn next month! I love you as high as the sky and the ocean is deep and more and more!

Love, Mama