At 9 months, Eli feels more like a family member than just a baby in our lives.  His personality is coming out, he’s exploring everything he can get his hands or mouth around, and he’s on the move.  He has the knee crawl down, but he moves faster on his belly, and usually prefers that mode of transportation.  He’s standing and walking around tables, chairs and anything he can use for support.  And if there is anything unbolted to the ground, he’ll grab it, put it in his mouth and then throw it across the room.   As parents, we’re spending more and more time chasing him, pulling things out of his mouth, and picking up the path of debris he leaves behind him.  The result is a new kind of exhaustion.  Not the sleep exhaustion from the first 3 months, but something new.  The closest thing I can compare it to is the mental drain you feel after a tough exam.  (One you didn’t study for…)

Here’s a video of his new favorite activity – the shoulder bounce:

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