9 months

dear bubba-loo,

wednesday you turned 9 months old.
as a celebration we bought baby gates.

baby gates.


and i thought it's already time? for baby gates?

sigh.

you are so grown up. this past month you have brought forth another tooth, shown a penchant for picking at buttons, and displayed a mature determination to crawl. what a month!

the best thing though? the VERY BEST thing?
you hugged me.
now, i know you might be thinking, mom, how can i really hug you at that age?
but you can.
and you did.
see, you have started to grab things - your blanket (called snuggly btw), your big brown rabbit, my shirt, my shoulder, whatever - and bring them very strongly to your face where you then suck on them while humming. I think this is you trying to hug and kiss things.
since you are absolutely inundated with that exact behavior by your father and i on a daily basis, i can totally believe you are picking it up. but how awesome is it? oh it's the best. you get SO excited, (ok sometimes too excited - as evidenced by the bite marks on my shoulder) and then you LAUGH.

ahhhhh when you laugh my heart does this triple-gainer-flip in my chest.

but then add the hug and oh...

laugh + hug = crying mommy.

love,

mama