Nine is Fine

Another month older. If I think about how close his first birthday is, I will almost certainly break down into tears. Every day he seems older and older and less and less like my little baby. SOB! So, before we cue the water works, let's see what this little guy has accomplished this (very busy) month.

• I mentioned last month how much this guy loves his bath. Here's some blurry evidence. Please note how completely safe totally fearless he is. This is a pretty typical bath--Bennett attempting to cruise along the edge, Lincoln playing with some glow sticks, lights off (ok, maybe the glow sticks and lights off were a one time thing; but, the cruising is very much typical!). We recently purchased a non-slip bath mat for the floor of the tub to make things a little safer and to help bring down our blood pressure.

•  I already posted this picture, but c'mon. How was I supposed to leave it out of his nine month post? He is wearing bear ears, holding an American flag, and smiling with the chubbiest cheeks ever. Obviously, it belongs here.

•  I rarely clean the house during the day anymore, because Captain Destructo below pretty much just follows me with his path of destruction after I clean anything. Here he is systematically emptying my cabinet after I put the dishes away. It works better if you actually work from inside the cabinet, you know.

•  First Christmas! Since we were out of town on Christmas day, we had our family Christmas at home on the 23rd. We are pretty much swimming in toys, so Mr. B was the lucky recipient of this monkey towel. Look how thrilled he was! (note: the donut maker in the background? Grandma got that for Lincoln. Never too young for appliances!)

•  Climbs on everything. EVERYTHING. Dishwasher, stools, fireplace, stairs...we had to teach him to turn around to safely go down the deck stair after he dove head first off a few times (once landing in a wading pool full of rain water. yes, we should have put the pool away after summer. don't judge.). He can now go down one stair like a pro. He's never tried more than one, but I bet he'd pick it up pretty quick.

•  I also already shared this picture, but I find it hilarious, so here it is again. Lincoln really is giving Bennett a hug here. Awwwww! They are playing together a lot more. Lincoln does get frustrated since Bennett is instantly drawn like a moth to a flame to whatever toy Lincoln has. If Lincoln picks up something new, Bennett will drop whatever he is doing to check it out. It is cute, but I understand how it is frustrating to Lincoln. He is really good about offering Bennett a different toy, but Bennett is not really good about accepting it ;)

•  Yay, leaves! In the 5 years that we've lived here, this is the first time we've ever had enough leaves on the ground all at once to rake. Usually we kind of skip fall and the leaves just drop so slowly that we never really rake them (they just get mowed over or blow away). This year, we had about a week where we were raking daily (ha! by we, I mean our friend Kari's girls, who we paid to rake our yard).

•  Someone got some new teeth! Tooth number two (his bottom left) started coming in on December 30th. Tooth number three (his top right) is still working on breaking through, but we've been able to see the white since Sunday. Poor guy!

•  He loooooooved this tunnel at Luvie's house. Good times.

•  I think I mentioned he skipped over purees in favor of small bites. He's pretty good at feeding himself. Since these pictures were taken, he has figured out his pincer grasp. It is still at a rudimentary level, but getting better. Favorite foods are bananas, puffs, butternut squash, cheese (sharp cheddar), and avocado (by far his favorite...especially in broth). He has also tried (and some of this might be repeated from last month...): sweet potato, carrots, blueberries, applesauce, blueberry applesauce (blends!), broccoli, potatoes, black beans, northern beans, and oatmeal.

• AND! We have yet to catch it on video (well, kind of. I have one, but you can't see his feet, so it doesn't really count), but he took his first step on January 13th! He has done it multiple times, and once even took two, so we know he'll be walking soon. He is super sturdy just standing in one spot...he'll just stand and stand and stand, and usually fall down, but every once in awhile he'll take that step. Now I just need to be ready with the camera (and remember to keep his feet in the shot!).

happy 9 months, Mr. B! Love you!