Asa is nine months old

Oh, nine months and so classic baby right now: two-tooth grins, slobbery open-mouth kisses, giggles, bouncing up and down to music, waving, and learning how to clap.  This is the stuff!  And he is on the verge of so much.  He is babbling up a storm and seems to be working on some words.  He often says "ba" or even "ball" for ball, "uh-oh" when he drops his sippy cup off his high chair (just like his big brother used to do at this age), and sometimes calls us "mama" and "dada" (although he's not always referring to the correct person). He is still inconsistent with all of this; it seems like he's practicing but is still a little unsure of himself, but it's clear there will be a language burst before too long.

Asa is really enjoying hanging with the big kids at daycare, especially now that he is eating pretty much everything they're eating and can join them at the table for meals and snacks.  He never really liked being spoon fed, so he didn't really eat much in the way of solids until he was ready for finger foods.  Now he chows on anything and everything.  He gets such a kick out of watching the older kids, too, but especially his big brother, and he definitely mimics their play, for example driving vehicles around on the floor and trying to throw balls.

Little man is working on getting himself around, but still isn't really mobile.  He scoots and scootches himself around on his bottom and tummy, but when he does attempt more of a crawl, he often ends up going in a different direction than he intends.  Poor little guy is starting to get pretty frustrated with not being able to get where he wants to go, so hopefully he'll catch on soon.  Or maybe he'll be one of those kids who goes straight to walking.  He's working on pulling himself up to standing, so it'll be interesting to see if he just abandons the attempts at crawling once he can do that and starts cruising.  It is so fascinating how they all take such different routes and go at different paces to ultimately arrive at the same set of skills.

Yes, our guy has gotten more much more active and curious about the world as the months have gone on, but he is still the sweetest little guy around.  Asa is always good for a snuggle, his favorite place to be is still in arms, and his favorite thing to do is still to make eye contact and smile at whomever will look and smile back.  And, as you can imagine, he usually doesn't have too much trouble finding someone who will.