The Fun Begins!

I don't know why, but I have really been looking forward to the 9 month old mark.  Something about it just seems so fun and like Jude is getting so old! Well, the day has finally arrived!  Today Jude is 9 months old! Let the Fun Begin!

I think that part of the reason is because the list of foods he can eat is finally longer than the list of foods he can't eat.  He still gets plenty of different foods, but at 9 months he should start consistently eating foods like meat, cheese, yogurt etc... all the good stuff in my opinion. The joy of this means that I can finally start just feeding him straight off of my plate without being too picky of what I am giving him.  Bring on the flavor! One year will be exciting too...that's when he can eat the really good stuff like peanut butter and ice cream!

Jude has mastered several things by now.  He crawls everywhere.  He has become a master and can crawl pretty fast.  As soon as he was crawling he was standing up on everything.  Now he has gotten his balance down really well and doesn't fall as often.  He is also walking along furniture, walls, tables, anything!  Today I saw him get a little risky and go from a end table to the wall to walk.  He does have a little push walker, but he doesn't use it for walking very much.  He has realized that while he is standing on one side walking he can't be on the other side playing with the toys!

9 Months old.  Eating breakfast/drinking from his straw sippy cup.

Jude also claps!  It's so cute.  He first started this on our drive home from Chino to Mesa, Az while in the back seat with his Aunt Melanie and I.  She started singing Pat-A-Cake to him and he just decided to copy!  I have been trying to get him to clap for months but I guess my clapping wasn't as cool as Melanie's!  Another talent Jude learned is to drink from a straw.  I don't know that he really learned this though.  I think he just came pre-programmed already knowing how to! One day I just put a straw in his mouth to see what would happen and immediately he was drinking my water!  This is his new favorite thing.  Anytime we have a drink he wants some too.  It's nice to be able to do this although Kyle doesn't love that I won't allow him to give him any soda pop yet!  After Jude started this I broke down and bought him two new sippy cups with straws instead.  We have bought several different types of sippys, but he never would take to any of them.  I had been getting worried that he wasn't getting enough liquid with his meals so luckily now problem solved!  Now we are just stuck with a bunch of useless sippy cups!

Jude and I flew out to Arizona and spent 9 days there and then Kyle flew out so we could all attend my family's reunion.  My family doesn't do these often. The last time was about 7 years ago!  It was awesome for us all to finally get together.  We were only missing my niece Bonita who was headed out to Africa for a mission trip with her church group.  I guess that was a pretty good excuse!  Jude did awesome on all the flights and was a good trooper throughout the whole trip!  We miss being back home already.