Henry is 9 months old!

Well, Henry, we’re a little late on this one, but it's not our fault this time. Recently, a virus from the depths of the underworld has had each of us in its grips and we are only now just recovering. You’ve been a trooper, although often a snot covered trooper, and I think we’ll all manage to survive. Your last month has been a big one – do you know that you have now officially been in the world for as long as you were in my belly? That’s a big deal and although I think sometimes both you and I would prefer your previous living arrangements, you’ve gotten a little bit too big to go back.

Here are some of the things you’ve been up to this month:

1. You know where your head is. One day, your mom asked you where it was and you put your arms up on your head. If we weren’t convinced you were a genius before this, we most certainly are now, and are contributing to your Yale education fund as we speak. (Yesterday, you showed your mom where your tongue is. You are already making us proud and will surely impress the admissions committee)
2. Suddenly, you are Mr. Independent. You’ve started feeding yourself quite well and actually manage to get most of the food in your mouth. It’s really quite impressive. You have also decided that, at least during the day, you prefer the bottle to the boob. The bottle is apparently far more portable that mom’s boobs, a fact she discovered time and time again when you decided to try to take her with you as you turned your head to look at the cat, the window, the floor, or whatever else suddenly needed your immediate attention. She made the difficult decision to perhaps try a bottle during the day and we think we are all doing much better for it. But you still prefer her in the middle of the night, something she tries to remember to cherish, even at three in the morning.
3. You are oddly obsessed with the cat’s water bowl. It doesn’t matter what room you happen to be in, if you are on the move, you will eventually start gravitating toward the dining room where it is located. You will maneuver around people, cats, corners, and toys to reach your goal. Unfortunately, your efforts are mostly in vain because we pick you up before you can actually play in the water but you remain persistent. We hope the cats don’t become tragically dehydrated because they are now a bit scared of you and don’t tend to approach their food or water if you happen to be around. Clearly, you are an intimidating figure with your chubby arms and cherubic smile.
4. Your other recent obsessions are handles and knobs. You particularly love our dressers and the handles that open the drawers. This is funny but also slightly terrifying because sometimes, in your enthusiasm, you launch yourself toward the dresser and have ended up with some pretty hard knocks on your head.
5. You’ve started dancing! Or at least making some sort of rhythmic motion as you sit. This makes your mother unbelievably happy because she is looking forward to when you start spinning in circles. In tandem with this development is your ability to press buttons – you have several musical toys and have now discovered what buttons to push to get them to play a song. Sometimes, we will line up these toys and you will push all the buttons to get all the toys going and the dance party begins!
6. You’ve become a bit indecisive in regard to being in our arms. You still love it, but sometimes you become restless and seem unsure of what you want to do next. Usually at this time you squirm and attempt to “fly” out of our arms: sometimes it's to the ceiling, sometimes it's to another person, but it is always followed by you making the motion to get back in our arms. We imagine this is all part of trying to figure out this big world while trying to stay safe and secure. You should know that we will always be here with our arms wide open for you, so go ahead and explore.