Happy 9 Months!!

Today my little man, you turned 9 months old. You are in the 50th percentile for weight and height so it seems the growing has leveled off. It is difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that it took 9 months to grow you....and that time seemed to drag....and the 9 months that you have been in my arms and holding onto my legs have sped by with such...well...speed. You are such a happy camper and people are constantly complimenting you on your HUGE smile and of course your glowing red hair. You make our life brighter every SINGLE day and we feel incredibly blessed to have you.

You LIKE bath time, especially when your brother swims circles around you.

You DISLIKE getting out of the bath before you are good and ready, which is typically AT LEAST 30 minutes after you got in.

You LIKE eating my car keys. We sit through the entire storytime at the library with you happily munching away on my keys.

You DISLIKE me taking said keys away so we can drive.

You LIKE peaches, blueberries, black beans, strawberries, rice, noodles and just about anything that you can feed yourself.

You DISLIKE me feeding you from a spoon. You already want to do it yourself. I literally have to hold down your hands to spoon feed you these days.

You LIKE your brother. It makes me completely giddy to watch you admire him, crack up at him, chase him and yes, antagonize him.

You DISLIKE not being allowed to play Kimber-Zilla with brothers train tracks.

You LIKE Mama.

You DISLIKE Mama getting out of your line of sight.

You LIKE driving the grocery cart...and wiggling out of the straps.

You DISLIKE sitting still.

You LIKE getting up around 5:30 AM.

You DISLIKE being encouraged to sleep any later, especially since brother is already up.

You LIKE drinking from a sippy cup.

You DISLIKE brother taking a nap when you are not.

You LIKE pulling things off the shelves in the fridge.

You DISLIKE being told "NO BABY" a thousand times a day when you are simply trying to play with your brother.

You LIKE smiling and flirting, whether it is with me or total strangers.

You DISLIKE me going outside to take out trash or recyclables, you stand at the door and grunt until I return.

You LIKE going swimming. We do it at least once a week and you love it.

You DISLIKE Mama having to take care of household chores....instead of playing with you.

You LIKE crawling, standing and cruising. You stand for minutes at a time in the sumo stance not holding onto anything and then lightly sit down and crawl away.

You LIKE wrestle-time with Papa.

You DISLIKE not being allowed to play in Muppet's water or eat her food.

You LIKE chewing on E V E R Y T H I N G!

You DISLIKE bananas, it is in fact the only thing I have found you won't eat.

And a few pictures from this month.....

That ever-present huge smile.

Trying to open the blueberries.

Blueberry consumption.

Waiting for mama at the back door.