Nine Months Old

 Some things haven't changed much since last month with Maverick.  He is still in size 3 diapers, can handle a sippy cup pretty well, cries when you take something away from him, dances to music, loves to play with his big brother, Rocco, and still mostly full of smiles.  I call him "Smiley" sometimes for this reason.  This month has been filled with a few firsts though.

For starters, he began waving (12-4-12).  It's the sweetest thing.  Another cute thing he does is lay his head down when he sees a pillow on the floor.

And a BIG first for Maverick was his first tooth.  It came in on December 4th.  By the end of December, he was showing a second tooth.

 He was already mobile and crawling everywhere last month, but most recently he found that there are lots of goodies hiding in the cabinets.  Just look at all those pots and pans he's pulling out (not to mention all the ribbons and bows he crawled through while I was trying to wrap)!

 He also experienced drinking juice this month.  I mixed just a little apple juice with some water.  With all the teething he's done lately he treats the sippy cup more like a teething toy than something to drink out of.

 One of his biggest tricks is walking behind a push toy.  I got a text from Tonya, my sister-in-law, while I was  at work on Dec. 20th.  It was a video of him doing just that.  I texted her back, "Sit him down until I get there!"  Sure enough when Rocco and I got to nana's to pick him up, he showed us that he could pull up on the toy and walk forward across the carpet with it!  Nana and granddaddy bought him his own walking toy for us to use at home this Christmas. Just look at those sweet, chunky legs!

If you want to get a smile out of Maverick, playing peek-a-boo is a sure way to do it.  He's even learned to pull a piece of paper or a bib over his eyes and then pull it down to look at you.  Sometimes when he is on the changing table, I'll lower myself down and say, "Bye bye!"  Then I'll pop back up.  He seems to never tire from this silly game!

Another thing he never gets tired of is playing with Rocco. I can't put Maverick in his play crib unless Rocco is in there with him or he'll cry. With Rocco in there, I can get so much done.  They'll just play and play.   They have so much fun in this ball pit that Aunt Ta and Uncle Ben got him for Christmas, too.

And of course Maverick experienced his first Christmas this year.  Here are the boys the night before Christmas with their cookies for Santa.  

 And here's little man all into the packages and bows!

 Maverick just loves his granddaddy Gary.  If you ask him, "Where's granddaddy?" he'll look right at him and smile.  If you ask him where anyone else is, he'll just stare at you.  Perhaps that's because granddaddy bounces him on his knee like a horsey.  If granddaddy stops, Maverick will start bouncing to try to start it up again.

One last new trick that may get him into trouble later is shaking his head no.  It all started when I would change his dirty diaper and say, "Shoo."  I'd shake my head no.  Now when I change his diaper, he'll automatically start shaking his head.  And even when he doesn't want something, he'll shake his head.

Unfortunately another first he experienced this month was a high fever and a double ear infection.  I just praise the Lord that he is doing better now and is back to his smiley self!