Cole at 9 months

Latest smile--in the park this evening


Latest frustration--coordinating crawling


Latest favorite food--what everyone else is having


Latest fascination--the wrist chord on the camera


Latest accomplishment--pushing up onto his knees

Is that happiness to see me?

I don't think there is any question that Cole adores Franny.... I love his little "yahoo" at the end!

More on books

Cole absolutely loves to read books. He'll sit in my lap as I read book after book after book. And he isn't a passive reader--he likes to scrutinize each, touch the pictures he likes, and coo and chatter along. Now that he likes to turn the pages (with his left hand--interesting), I am beginning to understand more about how much his is taking in. He will sit and examine a page for a minute or more, before he turns to the next page. Once I started to turn the page, only to have him put his hand out to stop me. He is quite the contrast to Franny, who could breeze through half a dozen books in a matter of minutes. Right now, his favorite book is I Am A Bunny which has lots of beautiful illustrations by Richard Scarry. It has more complex pictures than most of his previous books, depicting the seasons through the eyes of Nicholas Bunny, and he is enjoying it tremendously. I guess the little guy is growing up...

Gotta love it

Although yesterday's sun was elusive today, we pretended otherwise and took a trip to our neighborhood park. This was Cole's first trip since early Fall, and he went into his "observing" mode checking out all the fun his big sister was having. Little did he know that he was finally going to be able to join in on the fun! One of the joys of having a baby is that there are so many "firsts", even if they are as simple as sitting in a swing for the first time.

Cole was quite excited about the whole experience...

As usual, he had a lot to say about it all...

Although it will be awhile before he can match his daredevil big sister (thank goodness!)

Can we talk?

Cole talking to his daddy

Cole is an extremely observant little guy. He will take a significant amount of time--especially for a baby--to thoroughly examine anything that catches his eye. He especially loves faces and will sit and talk to us with the most wonderful coos and inflections for long periods of time. There is no question that he thinks he is talking. And since we talk back, I guess he is! As he chatters on, he will reach out and touch our face, lean over and give us a big sloppy kiss, or just stick his fingers in our mouth; other times, he will just smile and give us the sweetest look that I've ever seen in all my life. I adore this little guy!

The cups

Like his sister at the same age, Cole absolutely loves playing with the nesting cups. First, as an easy thing to grab, and now as two objects to bang together, the method of play these cups will encompass in the upcoming months is endless. They have definitely been worth the $2.99 I paid--several times over!

So close...

Cole is determined to figure out the whole "eating" thing. Driven by an intense desire to feed himself, he has been working on his biggest obstacle--the pincer grip. He seems to understand what he needs to do, as he is constantly practicing it, but coordinating it with the actual process of eating is proving to be challenging, to say the least. It will, of course, happen, and he gets closer and closer everyday, but for this mama who has to clean up after him and his buffet of squishy, messy foods, it is a day that will not get here fast enough!

Baby blue eyes

What a day!

Tonight, I pulled out this sheepskin thinking it would a comfy compliment to his nightly baby massage. His reaction, however, was nothing less than giddy excitement. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was either on a sugar or caffeine high--he rolled all over it screeching and laughing like a cat with catnip. Perhaps it was some sort of adrenaline rush from such an exciting day. Ten minutes later, he crashed and then went down with a smile on his face and didn't even make a peep. Maybe tonight he will sleep like a baby.

New moves

Last week, Cole was a boy content on sitting and observing the world around him. This week, after some play time with the big kids (10 months) Cole was inspired to get moving. Since Wednesday afternoon, he hasn't stopped rolling, scooting, and now, rocking back and forth. It's a little hard to tell with Cole's slim figure in that baggy romper, but that lean tummy is way off the ground! It's very clear he wants to crawl, but how long until he gets it all coordinated remains to be seen. Way to go, Cole!