What's he up to now??

Our 9 month old (What??? 9 months, already?) is up to lots of new things lately so we thought we'd take a minute to share.

Luke loves to laugh! We often find ourselves doing the craziest things just to get the opportunity to hear his great giggle. We spend a lot of time doing silly dances, wearing crazy looking glasses, or making funny faces in the mirror with him.

But, Luke also likes to be funny himself. If he gets a response out of us just once, he will repeat the same "act" over and over again to see us laugh! He went through a phase recently of laying his head down on the couch, floor, or pillow and posing while simultaneously making the cutest little humming sound ever. What a ham!!

Our favorite times are when we get in a laughing fit together. He laughs, so we laugh, which makes him laugh harder and...well, you get the picture!

Luke also LOVES books lately! We spend much of our days (and nights!) reading to him. He is especially into lift-the-flap and touch and feel books. He just loves turning the pages and does so with gusto! His favorite subject seems to be animals and he enjoys when we make the animal noises. He has taken a special liking to owls. He smiles at them when they are in his books and lingers on these pages. He also has some stuffed owls he likes to play with.

Waving is also a new trick! Luke has learned how to wave hello and loves showing it off to anyone who waves to him! He also likes to wave to us (over and over and over again!). Our favorite is when he looks at his hand with a look of "Wow! Am I making my hand move like that?!".

In addition to all this play, Luke spends a lot of his days eating lately (which isn't really new for him, but the time involved in one meal is!). We can spend up to 45 minutes on one meal! This is because Luke so enjoys picking up his food and feeding himself all on his own! Forget the spoon feeding stuff! Finger foods he's enjoying the most lately are watermelon and grilled cheese! If that's all we ever gave him, he'd be perfectly content! Unfortunately, mom makes him eat his vegetables every once in awhile! We often stare at him while he eats (because, well...it takes so long that we have time to just sit and stare!), and we can't believe that our baby boy is old enough to be feeding himself! He is growing up so fast!