Nine months!

Here's the little munchkin is as I dropped him off at daycare this morning. Neither I nor the two other adults trying to get his attention were able to, since he was more interested in what some other baby was doing. Pff. Other baby.

So Zack celebrated last night with a middle-of-the-night party, and Daddy was invited. He got up at 2:30 and he was up. Not interested in nursing, just interested in having me support him in standing position so he could look around and go "Da-dah-dah-dah-DAH!"

Early in the party, when I still had some sense of humor about things, I noted his contented demeanor and thought I'd try putting him in his crib awake. It works sometimes at bedtime. So I put him in without any trouble and settled down on the futon we keep in his room, eyes on the crib. I couldn't see him through the bumper, but by the enthusiastic noises I figured this wasn't going to work.

But then a surprise! Did my eyes deceive me, or did I just see a tuft of red hair heave into sight for a moment before falling back down? Surely he stuck his foot in the air, or... was that his head? Holy crap, it was his head, because there it is again! Before I could even take this in, there were two little hands gripping the top rail and Zack's face in between them, looking at me. Of course I cracked up, and then he smiled, and then I pulled him out and it was party time again. Ah well.

While he can't yet get himself from his back to sitting up in one move, he has developed a tummy roll/sideways push combo to achieve the same result. I don't know why it never occured to me that he could do it in his crib, but who cares! Seeing that little guy's four-toothed grin over the top of that rail was one of the cutest things I've ever seen in my life.

Good thing for him, too, considering my mood four hours later.