9 Months Old

At 9 months old you are really turning into quite the little man.  You are becoming so capable and so determined.  You remember where things are, and how to get the things that you like to play with.  You remember the things that are entertaining to you in each room of our house.  You love to play peek-a-boo with the shower curtain, or the curtain in your bedroom. (you do this when you stand up in your crib when you are really supposed to be sleeping).  You love to open and close drawers and cabinets, and push toys with wheels back and forth.  It is really cool to see how your brain is developing and connecting things together.  Physically you are getting so strong.  Your crawling is for real now-no more of that army crawl stuff.  And you are fast.  It is nearly impossible to keep up with you anymore!  Our 9-month photo shoot only lasted a few minutes because that was as long as I could get you to sit still.  This stage is really fun, and I love watching you learn new things every day.  

You are also starting to try to say a few words.  You definitely say "Mama" and "Dada" intentionally and you have started to say "papa" when you have to go potty.  Sorry Papa, it is nothing personal!

With this fun also comes some extra stress.  You get scared when we leave you alone in your room to sleep, and since you don't like to sit still you stand up in your crib.  You haven't quite figured out how to get back down in your crib after you stand up so we have to go in and help you down.  You stand there and say "Mama, Mama" until I come and help you.  And then of course last week you started boycotting sleep, so for the past 5 days it has been nearly impossible to get you to sleep at all during the day, and it takes hours at night.  I am hoping this passes quickly.  Despite your lack of sleep you are an absolute joy when you are awake, which is a miracle.

Everyone you meet is still totally charmed by you. My favorite example lately is when we were eating dinner at smoke and the two thirteen year olds next to us said "you have the cutest baby ever".  They loved watching you eat your food and slam your hands on the table because you couldn't get enough.  They were happy that you never screamed or cried the whole time we were there.  

I do have real 9 month photos of you, but I don't have time to get them up so here are some substitutes for now: