9 months!

Ezra turned 9 months old on Saturday! I haven't been keeping up with the blog, but we've taken plenty of adorable photos. A little update on the dude:

Ezra is so full of energy. He is an expert at crawling (he learned the day after my last post), and he can pull up anywhere. He's gotten very steady with cruising, and is working on standing up on his own (he can only balance for a second or two so far, though). He likes to walk with his Radio Flyer walker wagon. He's hard to hold, because he climbs all over whoever is holding him and jumps up and down in their lap. He doesn't have a pincer grasp yet, but he's working on it; he pokes things with his index finger, and his dexterity really seems to be increasing. He loves to play pat-a-cake and to clap. He just learned to clap last week, and now he does it all the time; it's very cute when he seems to clap because he is proud of himself. He also signs "up," "milk," and "more." Although he doesn't babble, he is very vocal. For example, when we're out and somebody starts paying attention to him and playing with him, and then stops, he yells at them (AH! AH!!) to get their attention back! He also understands a lot of what we say to him, and can follow simple sentences like "Come here," "Where is your duckie/the dog/mama/etc.," "Look!" He understands pointing and looks at what we point at. (Sometimes he completely ignores us, though!) Ezra also loves to eat just about anything we give him; I think his favorite food at the moment is raisins.

One amazing thing about Ezra is his sense of humor. It has been evident from an early age, and is still really something that stands out about him. He loves to play peek-a-boo, and often initiates the game himself. He seems to find quite a lot of life funny. My father commented on his sense of physical humor, like laughing when my father took the toy Ezra was chewing on and put it in his own mouth, and enjoying rough and tumble games. Sometimes Ezra will just sit somewhere and crack himself up laughing at who knows what.

Ezra is also all boy. I already mentioned that he loves rough and tumble games. He also loves trucks and anything with wheels. I didn't expect this to be obvious so early, but it really is! Baruch took him out for a walk and mentioned that he really enjoyed watching a truck with workmen repairing something.

I'm amazed by how much Ezra can change from day to day and week to week. He is becoming so much more aware, so much of a little boy, a little person. It's extraordinary to watch. I'm also in awe of how much I love him, and surprised to find that I love him even more as I get to know him better. He impresses me daily, and he challenges me daily, and I am so blessed to have him in my life.

I'll share a few pictures from the past few weeks. I haven't yet taken 9-month photos, so I'll try to do that tomorrow.