Henry is 9 months old

Nine months old. Nine is a big number. Every day our Henry seems both too big for our liking and still our little baby boy.

Here what Henry is up to as a nine month old (sorry... this got really long!):

Henry is our little mover.
He's busy busy busy all day long. He scoots ("army crawls") all over the house. And, in consequence, we stay busy busy busy keeping up with him. He has started crawling a little (tonight I witnessed the longest crawl sequence as he crossed his bedroom on his hands and knees), but obviously thinks it's not fast enough to get something or somewhere, so he always ends up on his belly to get from point A to point B. His newest feat is moving to a sit position from his belly or from crawling. Henry's favorite gross-motor activity is to pull himself up to everything in the house - the ottoman, couch, washing machine,  chairs, tv stand. everything. He's just absolutely loves to pull himself up! He gets a determined look on his face before ascending and once he's up he may spend a half a minute there before carefully squatting back down just to do it over again.

Henry loves other kiddos.
Henry has always loved to watch and play with other babies and older kids but just a couple of weeks ago he visited the park and the play area at the mall for the first time and really enjoyed it - the people watching part, not the swinging or climbing part. He doesn't mind the swinging, etc, but is just too busy watching the kids to even seem to notice he's on a swing. His curiosity for other children, animals, lights and big trucks is so fun to witness. His best buddy is his cousin Xander (13 months old) who he sees everyday on some weeks!

Henry sleeps through the night!
We recently helped Henry end his one night feeding. The result of that was waking up at 6am every single morning. Ugh. This is all really new as of the last couple of weeks, but it's looking like he'll go back down to sleep another hour if I nurse him at 6am. So - what we thought was the end of night feedings is just a shift in time for the last feeding. And naps are getting shorter... but I don't need to get into all that. Seriously, the questions around his sleep never end! At least he continues to go down to sleep really easily. It's just the best ever to lay him in the crib at night and see how content he is there.

Henry has learned some tricks!
We taught Henry to wave and give high fives. He came up with some other tricks on his own - like shaking his head when we say, "Silly Boy" or leaning his head to the side in a coy fashion when we say, "Sweet Baby." He also loves to play peek-a-boo with us, with his Aunt Monica when we Skype her, or by himself if he gets his hands on some clothes, a blanket or anything else that he can use to cover his eyes then quickly pull away. So cute.

Henry is an eater.
Actually, there are days when he doesn't eat much. He got sick last month and didn't eat much at all, and it wasn't until he was feeling better that we figured out it was because he didn't feel well. Despite not having any teeth yet, there isn't much he doesn't eat. He looks so grown up picking up food from his highchair tray! His favorites, though, aren't far from typical - applesauce and yogurt. We have a lot of people surprised that he likes plain yogurt and our response is always, "he doesn't know any different." He is often pretty crabby at dinner time, not exactly sure why - tired? overly hungry? - and sometimes all he's happy eating at that time is the applesauce or yogurt.

Henry is sensitive but resilient.
With all the pulling himself up, playing with big kids, and being so independent Henry has a consistent collections of bumps, bruises and scrapes. He cries easily and wants to be held but is quickly comforted then at it again! He has experienced separation anxiety since six months old and it's getting worse in some ways (recently screamed all the way to church because we picked up some friends and they sat in the back with him) and better in others (rarely cries when he sees family members!). We're pretty much guaranteed he's going to cry even if we hand him off to someone at church for a minute. We don't mind, though. He's our little sweetheart. He just started giving us kisses - they seem genuine for the first time (not just trying to nurse from my mouth, as I use to say!) and we just can't get enough of those open-mouth affections!