soooo big

jack turned nine months old last week and apparently he thinks that means he's a grown up. he's had quite the weekend of milestones around here and i better document them before he's walking and getting a mortgage and stuff.

exhibit a: TEETH! here i was, thinking he'd be toothless forever [he IS nine months after all, with absolutely no sign of teeth], and on friday i noticed two sharp little bumps on his bottom gum. hooray! he hasn't been particularly cranky so i guess he's handling it okay. exciting that they're finally growing in, but i am going to miss that gummy smile.

exhibit b: tummy up. he's been army crawling like a champ for over a month, but just last week he got up on his hands and knees and made a few steps forward. slithering along the floor is still his preferred method of travel, but i get so excited when he does the real crawl. he can also push himself to kneeling from being on his tummy. which leads to...

exhibit c: STANDING. what the...? yesterday, i went into his room to get him after his nap and found him like this:

i gasped so loud, b thought jack had fallen out of his crib. not expecting this one! guess we need to lower the mattress again.

exhibit d: grown up food. jack is starting to hate baby food [well, not fruit...still loves the fruit. but pretty much hates veggies & meat -- and who can blame him, the meat smells like cat food]. i usually feed him during our meal times when he's in his high chair at the table, and he gets SO mad when he sees us eating our food and he has to have baby food. we'd been giving him the easy finger foods (cheerios, tiny pieces of bread or fruit, etc.) but lately i've been branching out. i gave him some pizza on saturday and he went ca-razy, even carried the crust around with him for 10 minutes like it was his best friend. tonight we had a pasta thing and he ate everything we gave him -- noodles, red peppers, carrots, eggplant. am i allowed to just start giving him whatever i eat? dr appt next week and i intend to ask that very question.

exhibit e: swimming! today was our first mommy-and-me swim class and it couldn't have been cuter. he looked adorable in his swim trunks and rash guard, and even though he was unsure of the pool at first, he was splashing and happy by the end.

exhibit f: the cutest. his eyes are still super blue [the first thing every person comments on any time they see him] and his hair is thicker than ever. i have to spike it everyday or it gets in his eyes. he babbles all the time as long as i keep that binky out of his mouth. and he hates getting his diaper or clothes changed; we have to keep a full arsenal of distracting toys, songs and funny faces at the ready or he yells the whole time. silly monkey.

we love mr. jackal and can't wait for him to keep getting bigger.