9 months

Dear Henry,

This past month has been my favorite so far!  (I know, I know, I say that every month).

At the beginning of the month, you did the impossible and grew two more teeth!  This brings you to a total of 8, which is quite a lot for such a little dude!  These last two teeth seemed worse than the first few.  You were much fussier than normal, and went on nap-strike a few times.  

You are such a little talker!  You will have full conversations with yourself, mostly when you are supposed to be napping.  You have learned a few new sounds, mostly f's and v's, which developed about the time you got all of your teeth.  You can also combine consonants, like b-l.  You say Mama and Dada, but it is still more random than intentional, I think.

You are quite the little biter.  EVERYTHING goes in your mouth.  If you don't have a chew toy in hand, you are perfectly happy to bite Mommy's shoulder or my finger if I'm not paying attention.  It has also gotten extremely challenging to get pictures of you with your mouth closed.

You love the outside.  Everyday we go on a walk or run, or both if Mommy is feeling particularly energetic.  You also love to sit outside in the backyard on a towel or blanket and watch your puppy dogs run around like crazy animals.  You've been to the zoo, the firetruck park and the arboretum, and genuinely enjoy just observing your surroundings.  You are so interested in grass, leaves, birds, trees, etc.  

You love to be the center of attention.  If Mommy and Daddy aren't paying enough attention to you, you will fuss until we give you our full, undivided attention.  You usually reward us with a smile, a laugh or a squeal.  Anytime we're out in public, you love flirting with strangers (mostly ladies.)  You stare at them until you get their attention, and then flash a huge smile, then bury your head in Mommy's shoulder as if you're shy (we know better.)

You have officially entered the squealing phase.  You scream, yell, and squeal, but only when you're happy.  You also make the cutest little sound when you're really excited.  You stick your arms straight out in front of you, and make this low-pitched, throaty, laughing sound.

You are such a great sitter.  You sit completely on your own, and your have great balance.  You are working on getting from the sitting position to the crawling position.  You have made some great progress!  At first, you would very ungracefully face plant, before righting yourself to the crawling position.  Now, you slowly lean forward onto your hands, and adjust your legs one at a time until you are up. 

You have begun crawling.  You can only army crawl, with your belly on the ground, but you can get anywhere you want to go, and fairly quickly.  If you're moving fast, it usually means you are going after power cords, cell phones, or trash cans.  Crawling has definitely brought out your ornery side.  You laugh hysterically every time Mommy or Daddy tell you "No!"    

You have begun pulling up.  Mostly this only happens when you are in your pack-n-play or your crib.  You can get from the sitting position to your knees, but you haven't managed to pull yourself to standing yet.  But if Mommy or Daddy stand you up, you can stand all by yourself, as long as you're holding onto something.  Once you started pulling up, we decided it was time to lower your pack and play to the lowest level.  You like being able to see out the sides, but sometimes you act very dramatically like you are in prison.  You press your face into the sides and whine until someone comes and rescues you.  

You still have a great appetite.  You have gotten a little too big for your britches and sometimes you think you're too old for your bottle, so we have to have a small battle of wills.  Mommy always wins.  You eat all kinds of veggies and fruit, and we are starting to introduce protein.  So far, you have eaten chicken and you seem to like it.

You are still sleeping well.  You sleep about 11 hours at night, and take two naps during the day.  Usually both naps are 1.5-2 hours long.  You are officially a stomach sleeper.  We're not surprised, since both Mommy and Daddy are stomach sleepers.  Even though we always put you to sleep on your back (Back is Best!), it only takes you a few minutes to flip yourself over.  Many times, we catch you on the monitor sleeping on your belly with your legs tucked underneath your body and your little booty up in the air.  It's really quite cute :)

You have started developing stranger anxiety.  You don't seem to have a problem if we leave you in our home, but when we drop you off at church, you cry almost every time.  Usually you only cry for 5-10 seconds while we walk away, so I know you're just putting on a show for Mommy...but it works.  It kills me every. single. time.

As always, Henry, I can't wait to see what you have in store for us over the next month.  Every day is an adventure, and I couldn't pick a better partner-in-crime!

Love,

Mommy