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.