Judson- 9 months

Judson's 9th month of life has brought big changes in his little world. Right before he turned 9 months he finally started crawling a little, and a few days after that he was off! Once he figured it out, it did not take him long to pick up speed and start crawling all over the house. I think we are finally getting used to the fact that he will not be in the same spot where we set him down. We have started calling him "the destructor" because he can crawl over to something and make a huge mess in no time flat! He loves to dump out all the play food in our little kitchen and sit right in the middle of it all, or to dump out all of his sorting blocks or go pull books off the shelf. Right about the time he started crawling he also began pulling up to a stand. And now he practices that on just about anything he can- the couch to see Avery when she's watching cartoons, his crib, the bathtub, the girls' dollhouse, the dining chairs, and of course, Mama's legs. It's been fun watching him explore and go after exactly what he wants. On the down side, all his new-found freedom appears to have also made him a little more independent and opinionated. He fusses some at mealtime because he wants to feed himself, but for now he seems to be satisfied if he can hold a spoon and also feed himself some finger foods in between bites of baby food. We'll see how long that lasts. He also sometimes expresses his displeasure about being buckled in his car seat and when we take away something he shouldn't have or move him from somewhere he shouldn't be. But overall he is still such a good, happy baby that mostly just goes with the flow. Other things that Judson does now include clicking his tongue, using the back of his hand to make a funny sound with his voice, "singing" along to music, playing rough on the floor with Daddy and the girls, and repeating "uh-oh" when he drops something. At his 9 month check-up he weighed 21 lbs (58%), and was 29 inches long (74%). He is wearing 12 month clothes, size 3 shoes, and we just switched to size 4 diapers. Although I had trimmed the hair around his ears a little already, today he got his first real haircut at Cool Cuts. He sat in a little red car and played with the steering wheel and a comb that the stylist gave him. He cried when she was spraying the water on his hair, but once she was finished with that part and I gave him his paci, he did fine. Now I don't have to brush the hair out of his eyes every 5 seconds and he looks like such a big boy! I love watching him do new things, but I don't even want to think about his birthday coming up in a few months. Love you so much sweet boy!

On the move!

Yay! He is so proud of himself for crawling and loves us to cheer for him.

He's been making this scrunchy face lately.

more crawling. . .

"Look what I found Mom!" he loves to go in the pantry and get into the drinks

trying to be part of the action when Kendall and I were playing dollhouse

This is the before picture with his hair all sprayed and combed down. You can't really tell, but he had a few pieces hanging just below his eyebrows.

driving the car

the end result- a handsome boy! (who is leaning back and giving me a strange half-smile)