Banging

This coffee table used to have a glass top, but Uncle John replaced it with wood now that I am able to stand up. What does my standing up have to do with the table top? Well, I love banging on the table!

Sometimes, I just bang on it with my hands...





...but I also sometimes like to bang on it with things...like toy blocks, or my spoon.

Having a ball!

One of my new favorite things to do is to play with a ball. I have one really fun one with tags on it, that makes sounds when it moves. It is fun to roll it on the floor with Aunt Kati, or Uncle John, or anyone who wants to play, for that matter! When someone rolls the ball to me, I grab it and then roll it back, giggling the whole time!

Push and pull

I have a toy helicopter. It plays music and makes helicopter rotor sounds. But the coolest thing about it is that it has a string, so I can pull it and it moves! Maybe once I start crawling or walking, I will pull it along with me when I go. In the meantime, I have fun playing with it on the floor, pulling it toward me and then pushing it away and starting all over again!

It starts out far away, but I've got a grip on the string!


So I lift up my arm, and here it comes...


...got it! Yes, I changed hands. I use both my left and my right hand to do things, but mostly my left.

Beary cute

Every now and then, Aunt Kati says she just has to take pictures of me because I am so cute. She seems to do it a lot when I have certain outfits on...like this one.



Those are cute little blue bears on the onesie. And yes, my pants are tucked in to my socks; it's the only way Aunt Kati can get me to keep socks on, so my feet don't get cold. Mommy says that I get my tendency to not want to wear shoes from my Daddy, but Aunt Kati says that only works year round in Hawaii. Darn.

Now here's one of the things that makes this a really cute outfit...the matching bib!



And here's the BEST part!



Now, don't get all excited and think I've started crawling but Aunt Kati forgot to tell you. I'm really close to crawling, and I often get onto my hands and knees (like in that picture), but I haven't quite figured out how to move that way yet (so for now, I just go back to commando scooching when I want to go places).

Spoons galore

Mommy and Aunt Kati started a spoon collection for me, buying me spoons from places that I have visited (and some that I haven't been to yet, but they have). Aunt Kati said that we should find a nice way to display all my spoons, so she bought a shelf that is made for that.

While Uncle John was hanging the shelf on the wall in my room, I hung out on the bed and took care of the spoons.



Of course, I had to chew on one!



Here's my spoon shelf and the whole collection!

I can drink from a cup!

Today I figured out how to drink from a sippy cup! This one is good because the milk doesn't come out either too fast or too slow. Yum. :)





Yes, I know I need a haircut...

Table food

Tonight I did something different for dinner - I ate what Aunt Kati and Uncle John were eating. Well, sorta. I had some mashed potatoes, and a couple of really tiny pieces of broccoli and carrots. Aunt Kati put the broccoli on my tray, and I picked it up with my fingers to eat it...



...but for the mashed potatoes, I decided to try feeding myself with my spoon. I was pretty good at that!

Space man!

I have a bad cold, and it was making me have a hard time breathing. I was wheezing, so Aunt Kati took me to see the Doctor. He loaned us a machine called a "nebulizer". That's a big word and I don't know what it means, but I know that when Aunt Kati or Uncle John puts my little mask on, and the cool, moist air comes through it, it makes me feel better and wheeze less. And Aunt Kati says I look like a cool space man when I wear it, so that makes it fun, too!

Today I...

...pulled myself up until I was standing! I was sitting on the floor near the coffee table when I decided I wanted to get a different view. So I put my hands on the table, got my feet under myself, and tugged. And then I was standing up, and I had done it all by myself, without any help at all!

Hooray for me!

I'm 9 months old today! I think that's worthy of clapping for, don't you?



I like to give myself a Squeakers hug by grabbing his arm and pulling it around me.



Here, as usual, are the links to my other monthly pictures with Squeakers
8 months
7 months
6 months
5 months
4 months
3 months

I can sit up!

Yes, I know I have been able to sit up for quite some time now, but what I mean is that now I can get myself into a sitting position. Before, someone else had to put me down that way, and then I would stay there; now, I can go from sitting to commando-scooching, and from being on my tummy back to sitting. Here are some pictures...

Before I get started, I thought I would give a little wave!

I start out by pushing up...

...then I pull my leg up and under myself. In this picture I looked up to check on Aunt Kati in the middle of the process, and wonder why she was taking so many darn pictures...

...now I've got my leg through, and I'm almost done...

...and now I'm all done. Ta da!

I'm a commando!

First, sorry that it has been such a long time since there has been a new blog. Aunt Kati - who does all the typing for me - went away for a week (don't worry, she didn't go far, and Uncle John took good care of me). Uncle John and I went to get her this morning so now she is back home and we can start blogging again.

One thing I have been working on is getting myself moving. I have mastered the "commando crawl", where I pull myself along the floor with my arms (scooching along on my tummy). This morning, I went from the living room all the way through the kitchen using this process. Here are some pictures.

I'm making some progress!

You've gotta get down close to the floor when you're a commando crawler!

Here I am all the way on the other side of the kitchen!

Showing off my strong arms. :)

Peekaboo!

I have learned a fun game. I lift up my bib and hide behind it...



...and when I do that, Aunt Kati says "peek..."

Then, I pull the bib back down...



...and Aunt Kati says, "a-boo!" That's when I giggle, and sometimes I clap. It's fun!

Cute as a...

Everyone who meets me says that I am cute. I can't help it - it's the big blue eyes and the baby face. Anyway, for all of you who say I am cute, here are some pictures of me in an outfit that you will like...it agrees with you!



Don't miss the adorable matching bug on the pants!

Mamamamama

Aunt Kati says that the baby book told her that another milestone I might do this month (in addition to clapping, which I started doing yesterday) would be "saying mama or dada indiscriminately". Well, I don't know what indiscriminately means, but I do know that I started saying mamamamama today! Aunt Kati says it's a bit sad that I didn't start doing that last week when Mommy was here, but I'm not sure why.

A round of applause...

...for me! Why? Because today I clapped for the first time!