The Ninth Month

I have to admit that keeping up with writing about K’s milestones has felt a little harder this month. Time seems to be moving incredibly fast, work has been getting busier, and I’ve been trying my best to balance everything at once. I was especially drained during our first mudik trip together. The three of us spent four straight days on the road, traveling across three different cities, and it was honestly exhausting. Still, K handled the trip so well. He stayed cooperative the entire time, although afterward he slept a lot, which showed just how tired he must have been too.

This month, K also started understanding simple prompts. Whenever we sing “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” he happily claps his hands, even though he still doesn’t quite follow the “stomp your feet” and “shout hooray” parts yet. He has also become more shy around unfamiliar people and places. There were moments when I worried quite a lot because he didn’t want to eat. It wasn’t entirely new, but since it happened more often and lasted for several days — especially during the trip — I found myself becoming more anxious than usual. For the first time since starting solids, I think I truly experienced a bit of MPASI blues, although thankfully it only lasted a few weeks :’)

K has also begun expressing his frustration more clearly now. When he gets angry, he clenches his fists and shouts. At the same time, he’s become incredibly curious and is often more interested in random household objects than his actual toys. This month was also the first time we had to take him to the emergency room. One day, he vomited more than five times within only a few hours, so we rushed him straight to the hospital where he had to get an injection. Watching him cry was heartbreaking. But even then, he still managed to smile and look around curiously at everything happening around him. I’m just so grateful that not long after, he recovered and became himself again.