Mathias is 9 months old!

Our sweet, active boy is 9 months old! We are currently at my parent's house in Minnesota, where we've been for a bit over 3 weeks. The biggest thing that's happened while we've been here is that he has started crawling! He doesn't crawl on all fours, but instead army crawls on his stomach. But he's gotten confident (and fast!) and is always trying to get into things, or crawl out of the room. (Miriam can often be heard exclaiming "He's escaping!")

He loves any and all food that we give him, although his absolute favorites are sweet potatoes, pears, and any finger foods we give him. He loves to feed himself and enjoys blueberries, peaches, plums, and Kix cereal. He's good about picking up his own food and feeding himself, and also good about letting me know when he wants more food. (Right before we left he started babbling "mamama" and I thought he was starting to say my name....only to realize that's his version of "more". He only says it when he's in his high chair and his tray is empty, or when he wants another bite. So I think I can safely say he's trying to say "more"....now we just have to decide if we count that as his first word. ;) )

Mathias hasn't been doing much (any) swimming, since he doesn't seem to enjoy the water, but he does love boat rides (they either make him giggle or put him right to sleep) and has been enjoying his outdoor swing here at the lake.  

In general, he's a happy guy these days (when he's rested and fed), and is always giving us huge grins, crinkling his nose and laughing, and doing a very loud, ear piercing squeal when he's excited. He also furiously pumps his legs up and down and waves his arms when he's really excited or happy about something. 

I've only got a couple pictures from my phone for now as I haven't downloaded pictures yet, but I'll post more when we get home, and include more pictures.