9 Months

Holy Smokes, Batman! Where did my little baby go? I know I say the time is racing in literally every post, but honestly, this month was the fastest yet. I think it's because so many things have happened developmentally that make JJ seem so much older. This weekend, we hit up the pumpkin patch for a second time (because why not?) and snapped a couple of pictures before church, so I decided to use those photos instead of snapping a bunch of new ones today. Don't stress, Mimi and Grammy-he looks the same today as he did this weekend. ;) At nine months, our sweet, smiley, social butterfly of a JJ is...




-Clapping his hands! So cute
-Saying "mamama" when he cries, reaches for me, or pulls on my legs. He only says this to me, so I'm counting it as an intentional first word. I'm the Mama! -Crawling, standing (while holding onto something) and bear-walking like crazy. He follows us everywhere...even to the bathroom. A couple minutes of privacy? Not on JJ's watch!
-Feeding himself. He's been eating solids for awhile, but I spoon-feed him the soft stuff, like applesauce, and the foods we put in front of him never seemed to motivate him enough to feed himself. That is, until we cut up some cheese pizza from Costco and let him loose. He went to town and never looked back. He also loves brie cheese, naan, any Mexican food, eggs and potato hash, and green smoothies. And he loves drinking from the same cups Colt and I use.
-Working on his game-he loves to catch his little basketball when I toss it to him. He rolls and pushes it around the living room, chases after it, picks it up, and holds it above his head like a champ.
-A huge fan of the vacuum. Whenever we pull it out, he squeals with delight and stares at it until we turn it on. Then he follows us all over the apartment screaming joyfully at it. He does the same thing when we turn on the blender. Weirdo.
-Playing "hide-and-seek" and "tag." He loves to chase and be chased (although, when we're chasing him, he stops and turns around every couple of crawls forward to make sure we're still coming), and he loves to find me when I hide.
-Picking up quirky habits, like doing these short, barking, little laughs. He puts his entire body into it. Sometimes he stares at me while he does it, like he's trying to make me laugh, but other times, out of nowhere, I'll hear "HA! HA!" from the backseat while we're driving somewhere. Cracks me up.
-"Dancing." He grooves to LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem by shaking his head and shoulders from side to side. He's a bit of a Fleet Foxes fan. Also, he will sometimes sing (i.e. yell) along with me when I'm singing or have the music turned up loud.
-Very interested in his books. He loves to be read to, and he's started crawling over to where we keep his books, pulling a couple onto his lap, and trying to open them and turn the pages by himself. The bookworm inside me weeps happy tears whenever this happens.
-Making friends wherever he goes. He LOVES to smile at anyone and everyone, and he turns his whole body around in the grocery cart to watch for people coming from the other direction. He's just recently started to express interest in other babies. When he hears a baby cry or yell, he looks around and calls back to them. And at church yesterday, he spent the entire third hour following another little baby around, trying to touch her dress and pat her face. It's so fun to watch, but I honestly have no idea where this little extrovert came from. Colt and I have both always been more on the reserved side, since we were tiny things.  Jace is a bit of a hop-out-of kin, but I love it.