A Letter to Zach - Month 9

Dear Zach,
On Saturday you turned 9 months old and you weighed 26lbs and were 32 inches long...
Oh my little peanut, this month came with it's challenges. Nothing we were not necessarily prepared for, just a few things were shaken up and I'm left yearning for not that long ago when we had a fairly normal routine.
The greater part of the month was dominated by a minor virus that you have been plagued with. Still are, in fact, as I write this. The first week you had it I didn't even realize it - noticing only that your sleeping was off, you wanted to nurse more, and you seemed to be developing a rash on your legs and arms. Concerned about the rash I took you to your Doctor and he informed me that sometimes viruses show themselves in the form of little bumps and it's nothing to be concerned about. Glad to hear that my mothering instincts were right, and that I had nothing to worry about, I took you home thinking we were half way through the virus and you would be on the mend soon.
Only to find you developed a bad case of diarrhea a day later.
Now, one might like to think that she could go on about blogging on the topic of her infant son without mentioning diarrhea at length. And truthfully, if I was really devoted I could probably achieve that goal.
But I have just spent the past 8 days changing an average of 6 diarrhea diapers a day. That's 6 diapers on a squirming, almost 9 month old. An almost-9-month-old who has started rolling like there's a pile of tivo remotes on the other side of the room.
I'll explain about the remotes shortly.
And let us not forget what happens when a baby poops a lot during the day and consequently gets wiped a lot? Diaper rash happens that's what. Ugly, swollen, angry diaper rash that sneaks up on you. So next thing you know you're not just changing a diaper. You're preparing wet paper towels to clean the bottom (because baby wipes sting and make a baby scream like their toes are being chewed off), you're smearing Desitin on after each diaper change (which is near impossible to completely wash off of your fingers), and your washing each and every diaper pad you change on because your rolling tyke has roll/smeared poo all over it. And as a result of all this effort you're also doing laundry every day to keep up with all the poo-tastrophes (read: wardrobe changes), and let us not forget the twice (sometimes thrice) daily baths to soothe and help clean the poo-smeared angry baby.
And as I write this I can almost see the collective all-knowing head-nods of all the parents who've been there.
It's not pretty.
And we're on day #9.
Ok, so enough about poop.
This month you started rolling with some real intent. One day you were no longer content with just rolling over onto your belly. You decided it was high time you start rolling around to grab an object, or just to relocate yourself from point A to point B.
And much to our dismay you took your first fall off the bed on to the not so welcoming hardwood floor below. You ended up with a goose egg bump on your little forehead and a nasty looking fat lip - you learned that night a little bit about gravity and how your teeth are not just for chewing cheerios with.
As for the tivo remote...
You have developed an unusual fixation on the tivo remote. You always seemed very interested in it, but this month your interest has blossomed into something a little more concerning. When you see it nearby you get a look in your eye akin to that of a drug seeking junky who came across a stash in his dresser drawer he had forgotten about. You lunge, roll, grab, and squirm with all your little might in order to get the remote into you little palms so that you may suck on it. Once in your possesion you hold onto it like it's the most precious of all toys - never even coming close to dropping it.
We typically take it away from you since your playing with it usually wrecks havoc on our tivo - deleting shows we had yet to watch primarily. And up until recently you didn't care all that much. But then one day when I went to take the remote from you it ellicited a reaction I had yet to encounter - your face wrinkled up, turned red, and you started hiccuping little upset cries.
You, my darling little boy, were upset that you had something taken away from you.
For the first time ever.
While admittedly cute, I'm sure the cuteness will wear off. But for right now I find it adorable, so my sanity remains intact.
And you still don't get to play with the tivo remote.
In the spirit of the fall season starting and Halloween soon to follow we took a day off from working on the bathroom and traveled out to the coast for your first trip to the beach. We started in Halfmoon Bay to do a little (soon-to-be) traditional pumpkin farming, and then we drove up north on Hwy 1 through San Francisco and took you out on the beach for the first time at Baker Beach. Well, the first ocean facing beach you've been on - as we've been to our bay front beach in Alameda plenty of times.
It was windy, but you didn't care as you were snuggled up against me in your Ergo.
It was a fantastic day - just our little family taking time to be a family. Something I think we should try and do more of.
All the love and kisses possible,
Mama