nine months of you...

My precious boy,

You have been with us now for three quarters of a year. In the last month you have really begun to show us more of your personality and are keeping us on our toes, quite literally, as we try to keep up with your crawling and cruising.

At nine months you:

• have two teeth, your bottom, front two.
• are an incredible eater. You will try anything we put in front of you and are less and less interested in purees as you discover new tastes and textures of table food.
• are crawling (at lightning speed), pulling to standing on anything and everything and cruising along furniture.
• are tenacious and persistent. If you can't go through it or around it, you'll find a way over it. When you set your sights on something, it's very hard to distract you from that goal.
• have quite the memory. If we take something out of your sight and you happen to see where we've hidden it, you'll come back to that spot an hour later to retrieve your prize. Amazing.
• are making lots of pre-verbal sounds and will 'talk' for long periods of time in your incredibly sweet little voice. Most of your sounds consist of "da-da", "ya-ya", "ma-ma" and lots of cooing and hissing.
• said your first word on 9/12/10 at 1:45 pm. Baba walked in the door from work, you crawled right over to him and said, "Da-dee". He thinks it was a fluke but, I'm counting it as the real deal.
• love your Mama and Baba. When one of us has been gone (for a few minutes, or hours), we return to your squeals of delight, big grins and you'll crawl right to us with arms extended, asking us to pick you up.
• way hello and good-bye.
• point to things that interest you.
• weigh 19 lbs, 10 ozs (35th%) and measure 28.5 inches long (55th%). Our long, lean boy.
• are wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes but, those pants are getting short so we'll be moving you into 12 months soon.
• love the park. When we head out for a walk, you squeal with delight as you see the park and the swings in view.
• love to swing and the back-and-forth motion rocks you right to sleep at times.
• love watching animals and other kids.
• are very social. You are fine with being held by anyone we hand you to and are a merciless flirt when we are out and about, smiling and waving to anyone who pays attention.
• are still nursing, mainly mornings and nights. You have dropped a couple of bottle feedings during the day in favor of foods. When Mama is at work, you now get one bottle of infant formula. It took you a few days to get used to the different taste but, now you will drink your bottle with no problem.
• are happy! It doesn't take much to get a smile out of you. You have a ticklish tummy and sides and give us great belly laughs when we do 'raspberries' on your belly or neck.
• love, love, love bath time! Whenever we open the bathroom door, you make a bee-line for your bath toys and the tub...ever hopeful.
• were baptised on 9/18/10 and Father Nick was astounded that you were not only calm and happy but, splashed around in the baptismal font. That may have been a first for him.
• make diaper changes quite challenging. As you are so mobile, you'll spin around and don't like to lay still long enough to get a new diaper on. Bribing you with toys and singing works...sometimes.
• love the sound of Mama's singing voice (for some odd reason!). If you get fussy in the car, I just need to start singing to you and you settle down in a moment.
• are a little explorer. You love checking out every inch of our home and any new space.

I know it's your job but, you are growing far too fast! We are enjoying watching and loving you upevery day. You bring so much joy to our little family, little guy.

Love you to the moon and back,

Mama