Our 9-month-old

Leo, you are 9 months old today. I can't believe it. And you're changing so much lately. You're mostly creeping around, but sometimes crawling with your tummy off the ground. Now that you're moving around the house, you squeal and take off as fast as you can when you see a doorway. You know that if you go through it, a whole new adventure awaits you. Usually, the doorway leads to the laundry room or Daddy's closet.

We're still thinking that you're left-handed because you support yourself with your right hand while you grab and play for things with your left. You sure do love to clap, which is great because I can get you to keep yourself entertained during diaper changes (which you don't like very much). Or you just play with a sock - really, you're pretty easily distracted. You're not a fan of getting dressed, but if I sing my modified version of the "Hokey Pokey", you're usually okay with it. You just learned to "high five" last weekend, but you're not very consistent yet.

You don't cry very often, but when you do, it's easily cured with a Mommy hug. If I can't calm you down by holding you, then I know you're really not feeling good. And when I can't pick you up, I can almost always cheer you up by singing a song. Especially the ones that make me really "belt it out" like Christina Aguilera. Ha ha. Luckily I haven't had to do that in public since you're so entertained just watching people when we're out and about. In all your nine months, you still haven't met a stranger. You talk constantly, especially with ba-ba, da-da and ma-ma and ga-ga and ta-ta, but I don't think any of it means a thing (yet). We're still betting your first word will be "dog." You're still spitting up a bit and aren't usually a fan of eating - there's just too much other fun stuff to do! Which means you weigh less than 93% of baby boys your age, even though your height and head circumference are just above average. But we're working hard on that. When you do drink your bottle, you usually close your eyes and twirl/pull on your hair. You love apples, bananas with mixed berries and are okay with sweet potatoes or peas. Not a fan of baby food meat, but I'm not sure anyone can blame you. That stuff smells awful.

When you're sleepy, you rub your eyes and whine a little. We put you in your crib with your puppy blankey, you grab his arm and go right to sleep. But at night, I give you a bottle right before bed (just to get some extra calories in that little tummy). You sleep about 11-12 hours a night and take three naps a day. When you wake up, you usually talk to yourself in your crib for a good 15 minutes or so before one of us comes to get you. You smile every time you wake up and see the doggies, but Roxie seems to be your favorite. You smile when you see yourself in the mirror. You smile when you see a baby on a magazine cover. You like Baby Einstein videos - especially the puppet shows, like the kangaroo that plays peek-a-boo. You recognize the sound of the Disney intro and turn to look at the TV. You laugh when Mommy or Daddy rip paper, spit plastic balls out of our mouths, play Wii, do jumping jacks, or run in circles around you (OK, only Mommy does that). And you love to fly in circles, ride piggyback or play Superman. We're so lucky that you're a part of our family now, Leo. It's been a wonderful nine months and we're looking forward to learning and sharing a million more things with you in the months and years to come. We love you!