Letter to Alex: Month 9

Dear Alex,

Today you turn 9 months! You are getting around so well - crawling and pulling yourself up on things. You've even started to traverse the couch and the chairs under the table. I don't think it'll be long before you're walking. You can even stand up without holding onto anything for a few seconds. The house is now fairly babyproofed. We have gates upstairs that keep you away from the stairs but apparently we need to get one for downstairs because you've started climbing the stairs. So far you've only made it up one or two steps but that's too many for my piece of mind!

You have started making the funniest faces! Everybody comments on them. You do one that totally makes you look like an old man with no teeth. You put your lips together and sort of puff them out - it's hysterical! You're starting to laugh more. You love to be thrown around in the air - you may end up a daredevil just like your brother. And you've started learning about playing games. One of your favorite things is to go for the DVD player. You know you're not supposed to so you look back at me and smile and then head straight for it and wait to be caught. Such a sneak!

We've gone a lot of places the last month and most of those places you're just sort of along for the ride - literally. You ride around in your stroller A LOT but you seem to be ok with that. You just sit there, chillin'. We do try to get you out some to play. We hiked Donut Falls and you got to ride in a pack on daddy's back. You liked that just fine as well!

We've gone swimming a few times and you just love the water. You kick your little arms and legs like you're really trying to swim! And when we get out of the water you get fussy to get back in and play. You don't mind swimming pools but you're still not a big fan of fountains. We met our friends, Amy and Emma at the fountain at the Gateway and Emma just loved you! She didn't want to play in the fountain, she just wanted to play with you!

You are getting so big! You are 19 lbs and 29 inches. You seem to think you don't need to sleep as much now. It's getting harder to put you down for bedtime or naptime. You just want to keep playing. Sometimes you fall asleep in really strange positions - bent in half or while playing in your exersaucer! We've started feeding you some table foods - soft pieces of fruits and vegetables and you seem to really like those. You're not as into the bottle as Jarom always was and your new thing is that you'll only drink your bottle if you're holding the bottle lid. Otherwise you just rub it against your gums, trying to get more teeth to come in. And you did get a new tooth this month. One on the top, but it's not a front one, it's one next to the front ones.

You are such a funny baby and bring us such joy. We love you so much!

Love, Mommy