Murphy’s Law #ump-teen-whatever: a child’s illness will always progress from manageable to nerve-wracking shortly after the pediatrician’s office closes for the weekend.

You had had cold-like symptoms for a day or so when you decided that breathing normally was too difficult with all that mucus. Daddy and Mommy had taken you to the mall to keep you calm and entertained while ill. 15 minutes after calming down from a screaming car ride there, you were still breathing twice as fast as normal and your stomach muscles were doing a good frog impression. Two hours of this and Mommy and Daddy decided to call the doctor, then take you to Children’s Hospital (you didn’t have one of their emergency department ID bands in your collection yet…). Some poking, prodding, suctioning, screaming, flirting with nurses, fussing, sleeping, inhaler treatments, screaming, and feeding later, we took a much more comfortable you home in time to watch the clock change to April 14th. Doctor’s office visit to follow up on Monday (i.e. regular hours).

New addition to our rules of thumb (such as car mechanic trips = $500 per trip): ER visits = 5 hours per trip (we don’t want to think about the $$ yet).

Just when you think you have a system down, you will probably have to change it. This is how Mommy feels about making your food; she’s got the puree thing to a science. As you get better with your pincer grasp, however, you want to do more of the work yourself. So, on to learning how to make and dispense bits…and having you figure out that getting the bits in your mouth is not enough–you have to swallow them before you can put more in your mouth!

It is considered common knowledge that if you want to know how big a puppy will get, you look at how big their paws are. If that applies to you, Mommy AND Daddy will be looking up in the future. You have well outgrown your baby socks (rated at 0-6 or 6-12 months), so we went to buy you bigger ones. We couldn’t find 12-24 months; all that was there were 0-12 months and 2-3 years (and not just at one store either). With children, the rule of thumb is you buy the bigger size because…well…they grow…a lot. Imagine Mommy’s surprise then when she noticed that your new “toddler” socks don’t look so big on your feet, and in fact, for most pairs, they fit quite well.

Someday I hope you have the opportunity to watch a child of your own sleep after they are old enough to roll over amd generally move around. The positions you end up in while asleep are amazing: mostly on your stomach with your head close to a corner of the crib, sprawled over and tangled in your blankie, a limb or two sticking  out between the bars, your knees underneath you and your little behind up in the air. All of this and you still spoil us further by sleeping straight through from 8:30 pm to 6:30 am, and meet us with smiles and snuggles.

From when you were one week old until you were nine months old, Mommy had little trouble keeping up with your milk demands. In a few cases, there was even enough for you to share with little babies in hospitals. That has not been the case recently. Mommy and Daddy were not worried about this because they had kept a stock of formula on hand just in case. Turns out, you are a milk snob: you refuse formula bottles outright (complete with offended glares, and even squawks, at the service), and blends have not fared much better under your scrutiny. The closest we can get is formula blended morning cereal heavily disguised with your favorite fruit purees. We can feed you almost anything out of a dish (this week you even opened wide for steamed, pureed okra!) but put it in a bottle and call it milk…

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

There is something particularly special about adult baptisms, being able to watch someone who understands and appreciates what is happening as the Holy Spirit does his work. Our church in Houston chose Easter as their usual baptism day to coincide with Christ’s resurrection. We were there to witness a girl about Mommy’s age receive a very emotionally moving, full body baptism in a large tank. (This is not to say that a tank is necessary for baptism, but it does add a level of physical sensation to the experience for the recipient, the pastor and the sponsor in with the recipient, and the congregation watching.) Around one side of the tank were members of the girl’s small group bible study, and around the other side were members of her family, with the Sunday school classes (including you) up close to watch. What a blessing that we could be there.

After church, we had one of our friends from church, E.T., over for a laidback meal of Japanese take-out, deviled eggs, and Mommy’s first attempt at a Brewer bunny cake (see pictures). You, the good napper that you are, slept through all this in your three-piece suit until it was time to remove the bunny’s biscotti ears and carve it up: head, back legs and body (which sounds kind of gruesome when you put it that way). We were equally amused and horrified to send the head piece of cake home with E.T. in a box. Mommy and Daddy can’t wait till you’re old enough to help design the bunny cake…strange colors, strange bunny anatomies, Zombie bunnies…

Daddy claims you said your first real word today…as in you used the same “word” in the same context repeatedly. You had crawled to Jamie and were “petting” her, all the while excitedly exlaiming “doga…doga…doga” over and over. You did this again later in the day and the next morning, and have not said this word any other time.

Sigh…and Mommy was hoping you might be a cat person.

At your nine month check up today you weighed in at a whopping 17 pounds (10th percentile) and measured at 28 inches tall (40th percentile). You have six teeth now: two on bottom and four on top. This means you are still on the skinny side compared to most babies but the doctor was very happy with your growth and your milestones. You even got to show off your clapping skills. Mommy and Daddy got the go-ahead to start feeding you finger food bites, and more and more from the foods that we are eating. He recommended we try noodles with marinara sauce…we’re just not sure if we want to be cleaning up tomato sauce from that many places yet.

Earlier this month, it was just you and Daddy as Mommy was in DC. Today, it was just you and Mommy as Daddy had to fly to Las Cruces for the inspection of our house. We went to Tot Spot at the Children’s Museum where you showed Mommy all of the cool toys to play with, objects to climb on, and baby-toddler activities sprinkled everywhere. For you, this was old hat: you and Daddy are regulars at Tot Spot and at using the light rail. For Mommy, this was new and she wishes she could do this with you more often. The afternoon was all about napping (another thing Mommy wishes she could do more often), taking Jamie on walks, and cooking as you supervised Mommy making your next week’s worth of baby food.

You were fast asleep when Daddy got home, but you woke up just long enough to give him a hug, snuggle, and go back to sleep.

Watching someone else learn by making their own mistakes is not easy to do. Mommy has had an especially hard time with your adventures in pulling yourself up to standing and cruising while holding on to things. Sometimes you stand up on uneven surfaces, or on unsturdy supports, or you don’t have a good grip, or…and you end up tipping over and bonking your head. Daddy has been much better of letting you try new things and not making a big deal out of the bonks. The end result…just about one month of practice, Mommy watched you test standing up on an unsturdy support (your bouncy chair seat), sway a little bit, and decide that it would be safer to lean back and fall unharmed on your bottom. Then you headed off in search of a better support as Mommy unclenched her white knuckles.