9 months old

Cort is 9 months old today!!! Wow - he has now been here, living outside of my body for the same amount of time that he developed inside my body. I am in awe of our God and how he forms these little beings and feel so blessed to be a part of this miracle of life.
Cort is growing up so fast. He is crawling everywhere. I really don't think there is a single corner unturned in our house. He quickly discovered all of the areas in our house that I thought might be a problem( ie. Mowgli's food bowl, the fireplace, etc.) He has really enjoyed his new found mobility and sometimes just crawls around the house laughing in delight. He loves to chase Mowgli around the house. It is so weird for me to put Cort down to play with some toys only to find him trailing behind me or rounding a corner to find me. He pulls to stand all the time now. His favorite place is probably the glass back door and in his crib when he is suppose to be sleeping. :)
He LOVES being outside. It is so cute to see him crawling around on the grass, inspecting each blade and the fallen leaves. He laughs and looks around when he hears birds chirping.
He is still so full of personality. He just eats up life and I love it. His smile lights up the whole room and his laugh is contagious.
He is playing with dropping his third nap but still needs it on a good many days. He has had some sleep trouble this month - I think perhaps a little separation anxiety at night but I think we are getting back on track with that. He is waking earlier in the morning than usual and we hope that is just a phase.
He is definitely starting to exert some independence. He doesn't like to be stopped in the middle of play or crawling. It's like he doesn't want to pause from all of his new discoveries to take care of business(diaper change, dressing, getting in the car, etc.) He fusses a bit and will even arch his body back in protest but it's usually short lived and then he's back to his merry self. With his new mobility, "no" and "Don't touch" have become common words in our house. I think he is actually starting to understand the meaning as they will usually stop his action and sometimes even redirect him.
He continues to love his solids and in fact seems to be beginning to refuse pureed baby food. He will hold his sippy cup on his own but sometimes has trouble tipping it enough.
He dances/bounces to music or when he really likes somthing. It's really cute. He really likes it if I bounce back.
It continues to be such a delight to watch him grow up . I cannot believe that he is 3/4 of the way to a year!!! It seems like only yesterday......



PS camera batteries dead - I'll post what I could get of his nine month pics tomorrow.