Nine Month Birthday!

Sweet Boy, you are officially 9 months old! You are such a big boy.  You have learned to do so much this past month. You have started giving hugs and kisses, but you are very particular who you give them to. You have stopped smacking Mommy in the face to wake her up in the morning, and have started giving me kisses and hugs instead. It is the sweetest thing ever. You are so proud of yourself, too. You give me the biggest smile and laugh at yourself when you do it.  You have started giving Mommy high-fives. So far you will only do it with me, but it has taken months of practicing for you to start this so I am perfectly fine with it. You always hesitate, as if you think it is a little silly, but then you give me a silly smile and do it for me.  While you have been drinking out of a sippy cup for the last couple of months, you now prefer to drink out of a straw as much as possible. Mommy and Daddy are so surprised, but it is amazing to watch our big boy drink his water from his straws now. When Mommy shares her water and lemonade with you, you always try to take off with my cup. I have to be careful. You have started practicing standing up alone. You prefer to practice by yourself, but you always look for us with a big smile afterwards. When you stand for what you think is too long, you get nervous and sit down. So far you can stand for a good 30 seconds without wobbling at all.  Little Bit, you use EVERYTHING to pull yourself upright. We always have our eyes on you. You like to pull yourself up and walk around the room holding onto the furniture. You have even taken a special interest to the tray Mommy keeps on the coffee table.  You have learned how to open and close the bedroom doors. It makes you laugh to try to shut them as hard as you can. You recently learned how to put this into practice with the cabinet doors as well. Thankfully you haven't slammed any of them (yet), but I think this is only because you like looking at everything inside.  Your top 2 teeth finally came in after giving you months of trouble. You waited no time at all in putting them straight to work. You don't care for your baby food as much anymore. You prefer solid food much more. If Mommy and Daddy stop to get something to eat, or if we sit down to eat at home, you immediately start trying to take it from us. You know what food is and you seem to love every bit of it! You are wanting to spend even more time with Mommy and Daddy than usual these past couple of weeks. You do not like for us to put you down until you are ready, and you like to have us within your sight at all times. That said, you are doing so much better at sleeping in your room now. You rarely cry anymore, and sometimes you only fuss to let us know you aren't happy about it. Aunt Ariel bought you a ball a few months ago, and you have finally started playing with it with us. In fact, it seems to be your favorite toy these days. You love picking it up and throwing it to us. Inevitably you become so tickled with yourself that you have to crawl over closer to us and give us hugs and kisses.  Daddy and Mommy took you to Shreveport for the first time last Saturday. We took you to the duck pond where Juju and Pops used to take Mommy when I was little (and where they grew up playing too). You loved it- especially the swing. We weren't sure how you would like it, but you started laughing you were having so much fun. We can not wait to take you again. Little Bit, you are growing so fast. Mommy and Daddy don't know what you will do next. You are so full of surprises. You make us smile and laugh, and feel like the most special people in the world. Truthfully though, we think the same of you. We are so blessed to have you and we could not be happier. We are so proud of you, Angel Baby. You are truly amazing. Mommy and Daddy love you, Reagan.