9 Months

P1 turned 9 months old yesterday. These last 9 months went by a lot faster than the 9 months before that! I really can't believe how much he has grown. My little baby is not such a little baby anymore.

At 9 months, P1 is a lot of fun! He loves animals and gets really excited when he sees a dog or we get the bunnies out to play with. He loves to climb things (even though he usually ends up stuck). P1 will walk around using the laundry basket as a walker; but for the most part, he sticks with crawling. He can stand up all by himself for about 15 seconds. He loves Cheerios, and enjoyed his first smoothie. He is pretty good about eating most foods, but he doesn't like it if you use your fingers to put a piece of food in his mouth. He is much more likely to eat it if it's on a spoon. One time he actually gagged and threw up because we put a little piece of noodle in his mouth; but he was fine if it was on a spoon.

P1 likes to swim, and enjoys playing with other kids. He loves to play the piano, and he has stopped screaming whenever I play the viola (now he just tries to knock over my music stand while I'm playing).

P1 still has no teeth, and his hair is getting a lot thicker (and longer!). PE thinks he needs a haircut...

P1 takes after his daddy and doesn't like to take naps. Or sleep in general. Lately, it has been a hit and a miss with his morning nap. He'll take a semi-long afternoon nap, but he does not go to sleep quietly or quickly. He fights it every step of the way. And lately, he has been waking up 1-3 times at night. He might be teething, but we'll see if any teeth pop up soon. I often wait and let him cry it out for a bit; sometimes he goes back to sleep and sometimes he doesn't. Tonight he was not happy when I finally left him in his crib to go to sleep; so unhappy that he threw up all over. Poor kid.

P1 likes to say ma-ma. Unfortunately, he usually doesn't mean me when he says it. That just seems to be the one syllable he likes to use, so everything is "ma-ma-ma..."

P1 loves books. He seems to have a preference for books that he can rip the pages out instead of his board books. And he really likes books that are spiral bound, like "Preach My Gospel". I keep telling him that he has 18 years before his mission, but I guess he just wants to prepare early because he keeps pulling it off of the bookcase.

This kid sure keeps me on my toes, but he is a lot of fun to have around, and we love him very much!