9 Months

Dear Henry,
Nine months... the same amount of time that it took Mommy to roast you herself.  Crazy!  I know we say this every month, but it feels like you've grown more in the last month than any before it.  Right now you are:

-  Eating a LOT more people food than baby food.  More importantly, you've improved your pincer grip and started feeding yourself... and you haven't stopped yet!  Your favorites are blueberry waffles, pancakes, English muffins with raspberry jelly, scrambled egg yolks, bananas, strawberries, raspberries, peaches, pears, fruit bars, Cheerios, MumMums, puffs... you've got quite the appetite!  At dinner, you've started eating what Mommy and Daddy are eating, such as stir fry, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken, ground beef, pork chops, rice, green beans, pasta salad and peppers.  Last, you have mastered the sippy cup and can drink water on your own as well.
- Enjoying wagon rides more than stroller rides.  I think it's because in your wagon you can look in all directions.  You love watching dogs out for their walks and - unlike your stroller - your wagon lets you follow them even as they pass behind you.  There are times you've watched a dog after he's walked by for an entire block!
- Spending more time with different toys.  Your favorite ones recently have been your toy cars, the plastic balls Marji got you... basically, anything you can swat across the room and start chasing on your own.  As far as books go, your new thing is to take them all out of their basket one-by-one, then pick one, roll over onto your back and flip the pages yourself... all the while talking like it was going out of style.
- Still Army crawling.  You haven't quite figured out this whole crawling thing (although you do push yourself up into the proper position all day long), but Mommy and Daddy don't mind because with the amount of ground you cover you've turned into our little Swifter for the hardwood floors!  You Army crawl a mile-a-minute, your belly never leaving the ground, and our floors have never looked better.
- Sleeping through the night with two good naps per day.  No change in this department, but you can definitely stay up longer between naps and at night... and there are plenty of times you've been up past your bedtime ready to party!
- Developing more and more personality.  Most of the time you are giggling, smiling, cooing, talking away or grunting... but there are times when you have the most serious look on your face.  As if you were mad at Mommy and Daddy and were trying to teach us a lesson!
- Growing more and more hair!  It is sooooooooooo blonde, people often remark that it almost looks white!  Everyone comments, "Awww, what a cute towhead!"... a ridiculous saying we'd never heard and had to look up the definition for (something to do with separating different strands of flax?... like I said, ridiculous).

It has been a great month.  You're getting bigger day by day, developing more and more of a personality... you've grown into such a cute little boy in no time!  There's going to be a day when you're too cool for Mommy and Daddy, but for now you're our adorable little man who loves nothing more than play time with his folks.

We love you,
Daddy and Mommy