9 months and cruising

Oh Gabriel, I am so utterly, completely and fully in LOVE with you. You are such a joy, a treasure for me to watch develop and grow. How I adore you! I took you to the doctor on Friday for your 9 month well check and you are positively perfect. What a blessing.
Your height: 28 and 1/4" (50th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs 1 oz (10th percentile)
Head circ: 45.2 cm (50th percentile)
When we were waiting in the reception room at the Dr.'s office, you were standing with your hands against the glass door. The nurse came out and called your name.

"Is he walking?" she asked, gesturing to you. She was positively floored, thinking you were nine months old and walking.

"No," I said, with a laugh. "He's just cruising."

But you are ALL OVER the place. You love to explore our house, it's like a million little science experiments all over the house that you love to experiment with. You touch them and taste them and throw them. It's fun to see you crawl so quickly over to the couch or the coffee table and pull yourself up and then play happily. There's something to be said about reaching developmental milestones, it seems to make a baby so much happier, the more mobile they can be.

I've never seen you crawl faster than when we open the front door. You love to be outside- but it is definitely more work for me since you end up eating dirt and leaves, if I turn away for more than a few seconds. (Yummy!)

One especially remarkable thing about you is that you love to eat. One morning, you ate as much as I would for breakfast. I had breastfed you that morning (not sure how much you get, maybe a few ounces) Then an hour later you had two whole graham crackers, an ounce of yogurt and a medium sized banana. I was busily cleaning the kitchen while I was feeding you, and every time you had to wait for awhile, you made this "Anh, anh, anh" sound, like "please feed me!" So far, you have never spit out any foods. Ever. You love all baby food- enchiladas, guacamole, pasta with Alfredo sauce, pizza, mac and cheese, pasta bake, burritos, quesadillas, bagels with cream cheese, toast with strawberry jam, chicken, all fruits; pineapples, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, mango, kiwi, apples, bananas, peaches, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and every vegetable we've fed you; sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, carrots, squash, tomatoes. There were a couple of times where you didn't seem to be that into the food, but you never spit it out!

You have such a laid back personality. You are very patient and go with the flow. Every time I go to get you after your nap, you are hardly ever crying, you are often just sitting up, sucking on your two fingers and you rock your body back and forth in excitement when you see me. It's so cute!

You are so patient and awesome that if you skip a nap because we are busy running errands, you will usually take a longer nap in the afternoon to make up for it. You have been letting me get good sleep for quite some time now, which is a blessing as you had been having trouble when you were teething- even though you got four more teeth, you didn't have a problem sleeping at night (only during the day). So now you have eight teeth and can pretty much eat anything that takes some chewing.

One of my favorite things to watch you do is when you stand against the bookshelf and take my Harry Potter books down. It's so cute.

And one more thing, you have started to crinkle your nose when you smile at us. It's the cutest thing ever.
I feel extremely privileged to be,
Your Mom