Musings on Motherhood: My baby is nine months old!

This month:

• he is obsessed with buttons, zips, bangles and beads and puts them all in his mouth - in fact it is the only thing that keeps him occupied if he sits on your lap
• his favourite toy is his snail that lights up, moves and plays a song and his Jenga blocks for chewing on
• he gives open mouthed kisses (very forward) and then blows a raspberry to cleanse his palette
• he LOVES blowing raspberries and always at the most inopportune times
• he is super sociable and loves to watch older kids play at the park
• he loves to touch other kids like patting their heads and backs and going for their faces (not so sweet!)
• he loves swings

• he loves crawling into tiny little spaces - behind the sofa, under the move 'n' groove and under the dining room table
• he loves making an escape whenever I leave a door open he is straight into the hall/kitchen/bathroom
• he hates being restricted and isn't keen on getting his nappy changed, being strapped into his pram or high chair, getting dressed or being put in the baby bouncer
• his smile still melts hearts (especially mine)
• he had his first Easter egg hunt
• he had a ride on his first miniture railway
• he is cruising around the place like there's no tomorrow and still pulling up on every available surface

• a handful of times we have 'caught' him standing on his own for a few seconds at a time
• twice I have 'caught' him taking a few steps from sofa to sofa on his tiptoes - so funny!
• his favourite food are still yogurt, cucumber sticks, pita bread, rice crackers, chicken and pasta
• he is still super curious and always twists right around in his high chair to catch the action around the place
• he seems really tuned into noises like birds tweeting or trucks driving past the house
• he loves babbling and it can feel like your having a conversation when you ask him something or say his name he responds with 'da'
• he now has two teeth on the bottom and top and if you happen to put a finger in his mouth you will regret it as he can really gnaw down
• we love his smile where he crinkles his nose and the accompanying 'hee hee hee' as mentioned last month, still my favourite thing!
• still waking once or twice in the night, but we have had a few nights where he slept through till five or seven and it was heaven. He really is a creature of habit and so when we went away to my parents he gets out of the routine really quickly and hits the wall at bed time where he gets so tired he doesn't know what to do with himself. Poor thing! Poor us too - we used to love our sleep!

                       Still our gorgeous little ray of sunshine!