It's not about the shoes you wear,but how you wear 'em, darling.: My dearest Ayden.

Where did the time go? I can't believe you're 9 months already baby bear! This time, 9 months ago, the doctor in Mediviron told me I was going to have you. And we haven't looked back since, have we? :) You're growing before my very eyes, coming into your own. You're a little firecracker - you're showing signs of stranger anxiety when you meet people you don't recognise, but your smile is bright enough to light up the darkest room when you see me and your baba coming home from work. It's the best thing to come home to.

You still love your Sesame Street videos, your current favourites are Bruno Mars' Don't Give Up, Musica (the penguin playing the bongos gets me every time), Adam Sandler's A Song About Elmo (you crack a smile the second Elmo comes out at the beginning of the video!) but you still love your first ever video, Will.I.Am's What I Am. This song still garners a gummy grin from you! Development-wise, you are still army crawling all over the place. You grunt a lot now, just like the bear that you are. You'll go "HURHHHHH" when you call for someone or need some attention. We're working on you to pronounce some syllables instead of grunts, but no pressure, kiddo ;) You sit up sturdily now, but you still love being on your belly. Your legs are getting stronger when you stand up with support, you are balancing yourself steadily but you're not showing any interest to stand up just yet. I've come to realise that with you, it's better to not worry about whether you're hitting your milestones right on target - you develop at your own pace, when you're ready and when you want to do it. No way is anyone going to force you to do something you don't want to do, no sirree! One thing I can't help but wonder though, is when your first tooth is going to make its appearance! Everytime you start drooling a little more than usual or chomp down on your stubby fingers and go to town on them, baba and I look at each other and exhange 'I-think-he's-teething-aaaaanytime-now' looks... just for your gums to stay toothless for the next few months! But you sure act like you have teeth, gnawing on your baby bite biscuits like a pro!

Alright, here's the thing I love about you the most. Your sense of humour. It's a tad on the sarcastic side which is hilarious! This one time, baba was playing a video of a chubby kid being spanked by his mother for cutting school (don't ask, someone linked it on facebook). So this boy was whining and crying saying sorry for cutting school while being spanked (lightly) by his mum who was scolding him. True story - you actually watched the video and started chuckling. Baba and I found that so funny and we laughed along with you. And this may just be coincidental, but you laugh at adult jokes. A couple of times Baba would crack a sarcastic joke and you laugh your heh-heh-heh laugh as if you understand what he's saying. You're a hoot, kiddo!

Ayden bear, sometimes I feel that you're growing so fast I can barely catch my breath. There are times when you won't even let me hold your hand and I catch a glimpse of how one day you'll want to do everything on your own and I'll just have to step back and let you be independent. Then, there are those moments where time stands still and you come close to me, let me hug you and you look at me with 'that look' and I feel like I'm all you ever need. Thank you for those moments, kiddo.