9 months, 1 week, 1 day.

Griffin is doing well with crying himself to sleep. It's still hard to hear him in his room weeping and not run in to cuddle him, but the benefits far outweigh the momentary feeling. I've discovered that I really like sleep, and that I really adore Griffin when he's not exhausted and out of sorts. My relationship with Eric has improved too.

Griffin wants to do almost nothing else but stand up, so he spends a good deal of time in the crib in the morning, walking back and forth.

No, not walking.. just travelling. He hasn't quite got the balance to walk, so he travels, using the side of the crib as a balance from one side to the other.

Last night our little trio was coming home from our weekly game. It was late, and it had started to seriously snow. Big, fat crystalline flakes fell, and the air was super quiet. Walking from the car to the apartment, Griffin seemed in awe by it. We let him touch it, and he wasn't sure quite what to make of it. He'd seen snowfall when he was still very small, but I don't think he remembered it. And it had never been like this.

We've started him on meat. They make baby food meat combinations that don't smell like catfood, like chicken and apples.. or ham and pineapple. So far, he's liked them. I wish he had top teeth so he could chew things like crackers, without fear of big chunks. He still loves to chew on celery though. We recently got wings with friends of mine who came up for my birthday, and Griffin decimated a celery stick. I think he loves it because it makes a satisfying crunching noise when he chews, and also because it's juicy. We take it away from him when its structural integrity is not so hot.

Now I must go, as he is trying to knock over his dirty laundry bin.

Be well,
Autumn 

9 months, 3 days.

Last night we decided to let him cry himself to sleep. He did, and then he slept for 12 hours. It was the most sleep he's gotten in a very long time. He didn't even wake up in the middle of the night. Tonight he cried for less time. I hope he sleeps all the way through again. It was also the most sleep both of us have gotten in a long time as well. Today we were all in a much better mood.

Just in time for his Polio shot this afternoon. Griffin weighed in at 23 pounds 8 oz, and is 30 inches (2 1/2 feet). The pediatric nurse practitioner said he looked great, and seemed very enthusiastic about us as parents. She did say we should give him rice cereal for iron, but he's getting iron in his formula, from me, and from some food he eats. He hates rice cereal, I'm not going to force him to eat it. She also said that we should give him some meat, so we're going to check out some of the level 2 meats.. stuff like ham and pineapple, etc. The level 1 meats smelled like cat food.. let's hope the level 2 is okay, so we don't have to puree our own chicken! She also cautioned against giving him finger food that was going to dissolve into big chunks and choke him; crackers, cereal, bread. This makes sense, especially since he has only 2 teeth, and can't really chew food. One other thing she did which shocked me was pull back his foreskin. I didn't know it was able to be pulled back yet, and nearly shot out of my chair. I practiced a bit with that at home afterwards.. it was weird. I mean, I know I clean him up every day, but somehow that was extra intimate, like an invasion. I looked down, and he was just looking up at me as if he hadn't noticed.

Next appointment is after his birthday, where he gets several shots, and a blood draw. Poor little weiner.

The affirmation was good for us. He's developing well, he's a beautiful, smart, happy child. Sometimes it takes other people to shine the light on what is right in front of you. Not that I didn't know that Griffin was amazing, I didn't realize that I was a good parent.

Be well,
Autumn 

9 months 2 days

Griffin continues to keep us both awake so long that neither of us can really function well.

Aside from this, he has learned how to stand from a lying down position. He will take our hands, get to his knees, then one by one, get to his feet. He can also stand up using the side railings of the crib. We have lowered the mattress so that he doesn't go tumbling out of the crib!

He likes to stand at one end of the crib, where the sliding mirror doors to the closet are, and look into it. He ends up hitting the door over and over again with a great look of glee.

He goes in for his 9 month check up and shots tomorrow, so there will be an update with his length and weight afterwards.

-Autumn 

8 months, 3 weeks, 5 days

Griffin has taken to waking up in the middle of the night, and staying awake so long that I get about 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night, sometimes less. I can't think straight, I can't see straight. I'm exhausted all the time, and all the fun has been leached out of my relationship with my son.

The reasons aren't clear. I suspect it might be teething. He also has this random limb jerking 'thing' that he does that sometimes wakes him up.
He's tired a lot, too. He's also become very clingy, not wanting us to put him down. If someone is on the floor with him while he plays, he is a happy child. Otherwise he cries until he can have very close interactions with someone.

The final straw is the biting. While he breast feeds, if he's unhappy, bored, or just has some hurting teeth, he will bite me. Hard. He does it to the bottle, too.

So, in general, these past two weeks have been a circle of hell for me. Eric gets a little of it too, but usually he isn't the one waking up with Griffin at night, so he gets more sleep. I don't usually begrudge him the sleep, after all he is the one going to work. We all have our jobs here. I just hope mine gets better soon, or I might just lose my mind.

Wishing you all good sleep.
Autumn 

8 months 3 weeks

Bathing Griffin is a lot of fun. He's grown past gripping the sides of the tub in abject fear, though he is still afraid of the sound of running water. I'm not quite sure why, but he is generally afraid of loud sounds, especially yelling. This applies to pretend yelling too, such as when Eric is blowing off steam and yelling at an inanimate object while laughing. Tonight we had to comfort a frightened Griffin who was crying in fear while his father wrestled with the keyboard drawer on his desk, shouting the whole time.

But, the bath. He likes the yellow ducks, and he has a few of them. We got a momma and duck and babies, a duck that tells if the water is too hot, and a duck from a pharmacy. The one that floats the best is the one that tells if the water is too hot. The rest have a tendancy to flip upside down. He enjoys chewing on it.

Besides the duck, he likes looking at himself in the mirror, and has just begun to understand that when he hits the water, it splashes! This is a lot of fun.

I can't wait until he's past eating everything, and when he takes baths in the actual tub. I want to buy him bath crayons!!

Goodnight.
-Autumn 

I'm really sick, so an update will come later.