9 Months Already!

This past week Caleb turned nine months old!  And it seems like in just a short amount of time, he went from being a baby who didn't really do much to a baby who wants to get into everything...and I mean EVERYTHING.  Any trinket within sight, he gets his heart set on holding (and chewing on).  He'll lunge with his entire body until it's in his grasp, and once he has it, he holds on for dear life with his grip of steel.  He's slammed his hand into my bowl of soup, sending soup and my spoon flying.  He's knocked more than one bowl of baby food from my hand.  I've had to pry his little hands from the mailbox door and flag and then pull the mail away from his mouth.  Frankly, all of this sudden burst of activity has me a little nervous.  I have a feeling he's going to hit the ground running when he starts crawling and walking.
Speaking of crawling, we're still working on that.  He can sit up without support now, and he will occasionally go from sitting to his belly in order to grab a toy.  He'll hold himself up on all fours for a few moments, and, when being helped, he'll push off one leg at a time while in tummy time to sort of scoot forward a little.  But no official crawling yet, which I am fine with.

He's still generally very happy and loves to smile and laugh.  He's really started playing with his toys, and he can stay busy for a while figuring out how a toy works.  He knows how to hit the button to open and close the garage door and gets more joy from doing so than I ever even thought possible. When I ask, "Where's Mommy's nose?", he'll reach his hand out and grab my nose. 

And of course, his favorite time is bath time.  He and Daddy have a good time splashing and playing and squealing (as far as I know, it's only Caleb who squeals, not Tony).  Since there is not much that's cuter than a baby in a bath, here are some recent pictures from bath time:

Lather, rinse, repeat.

"You're gonna do what with these pictures?"

All clean and dry.

 At our 9 month check-up at the doctor last week, the doctor told us that Caleb was 80th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height.  And that's compared to other nine month old babies who were full term.  Considering that he was so early and so tiny, I'd say that he's catching up!