nine months

parker turned nine months old yesterday & now he has officially been an outside baby longer than an inside one.  everyday he reminds me more & more of a little boy instead of the tiny newborn he used to be.  he uses me as his own personal jungle gym & loves to rough house & wrestle.  he gives wet kisses to the face by pressing his open slobbery mouth to your cheek & he gives the best hugs & snuggles.

here's my little baby all growed up to nine months.
{compare previous monthly pics here}

the thing parker has really mastered this month is the art of standing.  he crawls to where he wants to be & then pulls himself up to look around or grab whatever he had his eye on.  he hasn't quite figured out how to get himself down from standing, so a lot of my time is spent helping him down.  he will pull himself up, play a while, & then whine fearfully until he is rescued.  

he's back into solid foods.  particularly cheerios & yogurt snacks.  we feed him pieces of whatever we're eating, too.  so far he loves wheat bread, avocado, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, rice, & apples.  he does great with a sippy cup & guzzles water.  he takes steps while holding on to things {the couch, the coffee table, your hands} & his favorite game to play on his own is "push the toy around the room."  he sees something he likes, crawls to it, then pushes it a few feet away.  then, repeat.  while he's being held, he loves to flip backwards & hang upside down & be tickled.  you'll pull him back up rightside & he'll flip himself backwards to do it again.  he loves music & singing & will sing along to music he hears.  including when he's being sang to before naps or bedtime.  he has the cutest, softest, little sing-song baby voice.  he loves story time.  when he sees you pulling out his books he kicks his legs & shakes his arms & giggles.  he'll lay on his back & look up at the pages & pictures for about half an hour before he loses interest.

he goes to bed every night around 8:30 & sleeps til 8ish, waking up once to eat around five or six.  if you're laying on the floor, he'll crawl to you & tackle your face.  he wears size four diapers, his clothes are anywhere from six to eighteen months, & the cutest new thing he does this month?  waves to you when you wave to him.  it's adorable.

and he is still so dang cute.

and for good measure, a picture of p-ray in maui.  in his zip down swim shirt & swim trunks.

love this kid.


love votes too. really.