7, 8 and 9

We had our first snow fall of the season last night. 

And I love that we have absolutely nowhere to go this morning.

So I'm sitting here as you are taking a nap and as your sister is playing (aka, obsessively focused) with her Cinderella castle in her bedroom. I am enjoying the quiet, and loving the view of our lit Christmas tree and the snow that covers nearly every surface in our backyard.

And I love how your sister has decorated the bottom half of our tree with tiny clothes pins. Our tree needed a touch of Josie. And now it's perfect.

For the first time in a long time, I'm by myself. And I honestly love it. But not too much. Because I must admit, I sometimes miss you while you're sleeping. 

I decide to take this little time I have and think about you. Because thinking about you and your sister makes me happy.

I realize I haven't written an update since you were six months old. And since we are on the eve of your ELEVENTH month birthday, I thought I better get to work. Not because I feel like I have to, but because I want to cherish you and who you are at every little stage in life. 

So here are months seven, eight and nine.

As you can see, it has become increasingly hard to capture you sitting still. Since I posted last, you have mastered sitting up, waving, potentially saying your first word, crawling, speed crawling (crawling and speed crawling are two VERY different things), pulling up, cruising and pushing your sister's doll stroller all around the house. 

Maybe for Christmas, you'll get something boy-ish to push around the house. :-)

You've also mastered finger foods and basically anything I put on the tray of your highchair or any kind of leftover crumb you find on the floor in the kitchen hours after we've eaten. Gross. But hey, you love to eat.

Oh and you've also mastered the art of the fake cry. The one where you scrunch up your face, squint your eyes and go "uh heh heh heh". No tears. Just enough "heh-ing" to get picked up. Such a smart kid. And a happy one, too. Laughing all the time. Even when you wake us up in the middle of the night for a snack (*sigh*), you are laughing, talking and super hyper.

I've seen you REALLY cry only a few times. And the most recent being when I placed you on Santa's lap. Oh dear me. I'm sorry, little buddy. It was horrible. The next day, while getting you dressed, I tickled your little belly and when you began erupting in laughter, I noticed FIVE new teeth! FIVE! So maybe a sore mouth had something to do with the whole horrible Santa experience. That makes seven teeth total. Now you look like a kindergartener.

And before I know it, you'll be one. I feel like I'm Grover in that Sesame Street story about a monster at the end of the book. He keeps desperately asking the reader to stop turning pages. Except I'm not talking about pages, I'm talking about days, months and years.

For the love....Will. You. Please. STOP. Growing. Up?????? :-)