9 months

Nine months old is such a fun age!   Ethan is happy, talkative and playful which makes for a lot of fun for the whole family.  

This month he learned to clap, roll a ball back to me, give a high five and has once repeated what Aaron said to him back.   Also, every once in a while has started to actually hit his mouth with the spoon when he feeds himself.

And just today he made another huge milestone - he stood stable all by himself for an extended amount of time!  He has been standing for 5-10 seconds at a time for a while now, but he seemed a little shaky while he did it.  You could see on his face that he wasn't comfortable without holding on to something.  Today, however,  he was solid as a rock.  I looked over and noticed he wasn't hanging on and wasn't wobbly at all.  He could tell something cool was going on because once he saw how shocked I was he started laughing.  It was a neat moment for both of us.  Later today he stood for over a minute, and then he sat down because he got bored with me and went to the toy.  Somewhere recently he figured out how to balance.  Pretty cool!

E has 8 teeth now.  In a few weeks he sprouted a several right in a row, but after the initial breakthrough they didn't seem to be growing up very fast.  They have now started to really come in and look like real teeth instead of little white nuggets on his gum.  

 E is such a happy little boy.  He babbles and laughs all day long as he plays throughout the house.  He chatters in conversational tones so it sounds like he's telling stories to himself and then laughing at them.  It's a lot of fun to listen to. 

I love that his first reaction to most everything is to giggle and laugh.  If only he could keep this ability to laugh at first instinct throughout his life!

Ethan is eating everything we eat now and likes almost everything...he isn't a fan of broccoli at all.  His favorite food right now is an orange.  He likes any kind - navel, clementine, mandarin - and will eat as much as I will give him, as fast as I give it to him.  He is doing better at feeding himself but I still feed him the mushy foods to make sure most of it makes it into his mouth.  

The sun was out shining bright this last weekend with fantastic temps, so we got outside and soaked up as much as we could!

We spent Friday and Saturday afternoon out skate skiing, along the Coastal Trail in Anchorage and then into the Valley in Girdwood.

On Sunday I participated in my first timed skate ski event at the Anchorage Ski for Women and had a blast!  I have enjoyed doing running races for the last few years but was so excited to try one on skis.  It was a fun first for this girl from Oklahoma.  :)  

Then of course we spent the afternoon eating and watching the Superbowl (it starts at 2:00 here and is over by 6:00!).  We had a little party at our house for game and had fun seeing the house being taken over by all the babies.

Hiking with Malley and Ethan in the trails above Anchorage.

A winter view of the inlet driving south out of town.