Cooper - Month 9

Where oh where has my little boy gone?! 

You are so grown up now! You crawl and climb and stand and squat and side step and are learning the stairs! You love your mommy these days, and that's ok, because she loves you very much. You love to snuggle with her, and it makes daddy jealous sometimes. You are currently cutting three teeth at the same time! You already have one on the bottom, and the one next to it is coming in, as well as two on the top. Not the middle two though, the outer two - so that will probably look funny. 

You are still as talkative as ever, and make new sounds almost every day. You love to sing and play patty cake with mommy. Bath time has become an adventure since you're over the bath seat, and now just like to play with the faucet and splash the whole time. You love daddy's xbox, and go straight for the power button every time. We finally had to unplug it! 

You stand up in your crib and cry and cry until someone comes to sit you down. You haven't quite figured out how to sit back down once you've stood up. You look so pitiful when we go in to rescue you! You still sleep through the night, and well in to the morning (unless you're not feeling well). 

Throughout your eighth month, you traveled a lot! You went to England, Texas, and Virginia. In Texas you got to meet another president! George. W. Bush. He put his hat on you at daddy's golf tournament, and even held you for a few seconds, but you were tired and started crying so he gave you back to mommy. You were certainly a hit at the golf tournament, everyone still comments on how much you look like your daddy. You are quite the frequent flyer these days, too. It's hit or miss though, sometimes you sleep right through the flight, and other times you cry the whole time. In Virginia, there was a constant flow of people at mom mom's house coming to visit you since we were only there for a weekend. You played with your cousin Max, and friend Jocelyn! You saw your favorite Lauren again, and wooed her with all your new tricks. You gave Tammy & Philip baby fever the day after their wedding, and you might have even given it to David. You hung out with your pop pop a lot, because he basically lived with us in Colorado for 6 weeks to babysit Sadie while we were out doing all this world traveling! 

You still enjoy meal times, although we haven't strayed too far from the general baby diet. Mommy may be a little reluctant to let you grow up too fast. You have graduated to Cheerios, which are much cheaper and easier to haul around with us. You still love sweet potatoes and applesauce the best. You are starting to get excited about yogurt, too. You especially love the fruit and yogurt popsicles I make for you since your gums are so sore these days. We have a very relaxed schedule, and a semi routine when we're home all day. Usually, that all gets thrown out the window if we're out running errands, though. Generally you take one or two naps during the day, and then we snuggle in our rocking chair at night before bed and then you sleep peacefully until the morning. Nap times are getting harder though, since you stand and walk around the edges of the crib and then fuss until I have to come lay you down and say night night again. Today, we had to do that three times before you actually fell asleep! 

While life with you has gotten easier in some respects, it's gotten harder in others. You are in to everything. Everything you're not supposed to be in. So we have to watch you like a hawk, but still allow you to explore your home. It's wonderful to be able to put you in the shopping cart in stores instead of lugging the stroller or strapping you to me, but then you're putting the lovely shopping cart with all it's cleanliness in your mouth. You have a mind of your own now, and know what you want. iPhones in particular, are one of your favorite items to grab and chew on. You don't like it when mommy walks out of the room, and really don't like it when she puts you down! 

We can't wait to see what this month brings, I hope you continue to grow in to a sweet, loving boy like you already are. Keep smiling, Cooper boy! Mommy & Daddy love you!