NINE months?! How is this year going by so fast and how can I slow it down?! This month has been pretty full of milestones. He now crawls on his hands and knees rather than on his forearms and he pulls himself up onto everything he touches,
whether it's sturdy or not. In the beginning, it was quite commical, because he had to concentrate so hard to pull himself up, but then he'd find himself stranded, not sure how to get back down or what to do next!
See video on youtube
HERE
Also, it would be so cute when he would get to the standing position and then see something he wanted to play with, but he couldn't support himself and hold the object, so he would push it onto the floor and then carefully sit back down to play with it - but THEN,
he figured out that if he balanced himself on his forearms, he could stay standing while holding the object...clever!
He is a pro now, even conquering stairs with ease! Now, with all of this increased mobility and courage have come a few battlescars, but fortunately no blood yet.
The good thing is that he seems to be pretty tough, not really crying unless it's truly a hard hit - like when he fell off the bed one morning, on MY watch - that was a tough one - for me more than him :/ This month he's been rockin' the denim diaper and he has an adorable fascination with ceiling fans - really light fixtures in general though, he seems to look at them wondering why they aren't moving.
His new word this month is "dat!" and he continues to say mamamama and dadadada, still without truly associating it with each of us, AND he even says "day-dee," which we are convinced is "Daisy." He also likes to make his voice reverberate by moving his finger in his mouth from one side to the other.
One of his favorite activities lately is reorganizing the tupperware cabinet, he loves drinking water out of a cup, continues to be a great eater opening his mouth super wide for each bite, and he HATES getting his mouth and hands wiped at the end of meals. He twists and turns trying to get out of his carseat and stroller, generally just never sitting still and he is officially no longer a good churchgoer.
Every night it just amazes me how MINUTES before bedtime he can be BOUNCING off the walls, zooming all across the bed as I try to change him, and then fall asleep within like 60 seconds of nursing him...and I NEVER get tired of putting that precious baby to sleep at night.
I know I keep saying this, but with each passing month, I seriously just cannot believe how fast the time is flying and how quickly this little baby is growing up! This month, he has developed so much in terms of strength and independence. He isn't walking yet, but he is a super speedy crawler and he can cruise with the best of them. After an attempted triple flip dismount from a shopping cart at Target one day (which may hav
e taken years off my life!), he has now lost his restraintlessness privileges in shopping carts and strollers and he is NOT happy about it. He seems to understand "no," often times looking at me as he goes to do something he knows he shouldn't and when 
I respond accordingly with a "no" or "Luca!" he gets startled, then crawls 
off in the opposite direction with a hilarious laugh/squeal so as to say "try and catch me!" He is becoming quite a little cuddle bug, often suckering me into letting him take his last sleep of the night (after his typical 4a feeding) with me in the bed by his crib. His two top teeth have poked through a
nd now he has quite a bite - very handy for chomping on Cheerios! He is loving being able to feed himself now - at first it was pretty funny because he would look at me 
before he would put said Cheerio in his mouth as if to say "Hmm, usually mommy doesn't let me put stuff in my mouth!" Other things to note this month...he enjoys imitating sounds, 
he smacks his lips when you bring his food out to him, and it's been really cute to watch him play with William and Nolan on Sundays at Nonna's. Also, he is really trying to play with Daisy and he has come up with a really cute way to use his feet to spin himself around on the floor : )
Luca is a ton of fun in the mornings because he ALWAYS wakes up in a good mood - a total morning person, for sure. He typically starts his day with some bananas and cheerios...
Luca will find it and that will be his favorite thing about that object. Apparently Luca is not alone in his fascination and toymakers have figured this ou
