I cannot believe that this kid is already 9 and a half months old. I am really happy and sad at the same time. He is such a cool kid and I love him just the way he is. I
wish he could stay this age forever. He is so happy, and so crazy all over the place. He really can finally play on his own and have fun. As you can see in these pictures he also really likes to "get into things," whether it is a bag, a basket or our dvd collection. He would much rather play in things like our kitchen cabinets than play with actual baby toys. He also really enjoys playing ball. He could sit on the floor with us for ever with us rolling the ball to him and him throwing it back.
Changing his clothes and diapers have become quite a chore lately though. He absolutely hates it. He would much rather be up and about. So, we have invented a few games to help the situation. When changing his clothes we take off his shirt first, but leave it on his head and play the
"What's on your head," game. He always laughs and it keeps him entertained. This has morphed into him liking to play with "hats" a lot too. We put the "hat" ie: baseball hats, sombreros, pots etc on his head and say "What's on your head?" He laughs and takes it off. Then we start over.
The other game he likes to play on the changing table is getting the peoples attention who happen to be walking outside. The changing table sits right under his window. So half the time he stands up, and starts to bang on the window and yell. Then he waves and smiles at our neighbors walking below. I do feel like it is important to add that he is normally naked during these escapades. =)
He is getting pretty good at feeding himself in his high chair too. When we first started trying
encourage him to put food in his own mouth he was going through an odd stage where he wouldn't let you put any piece of whole food in his mouth at all. It was crazy. He would seriously look at you like you killed him. If you actually happened to sneak even a cheerio in he would gag and gasp like he was dying. This weird little boy crawls around this house all day putting random things in his mouth, dog hair, bones, the cap to the bolt on the toilette for example, but if you happened to get a real whole piece of food in his mouth the world would end. Now he is doing pretty well. You actually have to slow him down sometimes. This morning he was shoveling strawberries slices in his mouth faster than it could cut them up!
This whole feeding himself thing and throwing balls game has also fostered a better relationship with the dog too. He tries to throw the ball for Clovis, but he can't quite get it far enough. =) But they are "sharing" so there is at least some interaction. One thing he is good at is feeding Clovis. She has grown accustomed to hanging around his highchair waiting for stray cheerios or fruit to drop. Then she follows him around after and tries to clean him and his high chiar up!
Well, that is all I can think of for now. Wow that was a lot to catch you up on. I am planning to
keep this site more up to date than his old site, so keep checking back. Oh and FYI you can ask this site to email you whenever I have updated it.
Have a great week!
~Bethany
Well, I think we are knocking on the door to a new phase in Erik J's life. He is 10 months old as of yesterday and he can stand up all by himself. He has been practicing for a week or two now and he is getting better every day. 
