The Tignors: 9 months old

Cooper turned 9 months on Thursday January 13th. I've been meaning to write this post, but just haven't gotten around to it. Anyways, I absolutely LOVE this age! He is SO SWEET! He just grins and loves on me. I feel like the most important person in the world whenever he smiles at me. I am definitely not liking the fact that we only have 3 months left until his first birthday. I never understood mothers that get sad about this, but I definitely understand now! Of course I am looking forward to all the things that come, but I am going to miss these days.

Here are some things that Cooper is doing right now:

He started crawling a couple of days before his 9 month birthday. He is not getting anywhere fast, but if he is motivated, he will get there.
He pulls up on everything. Even things that he really shouldn't pull up on. He LOVES to pull up on Matt and me. In fact, if I ever get tired, I just lay on the floor and let Cooper crawl all over me. It is his favorite.
He can now go from his belly to a sitting position. I thought he would do this before he started crawling, but it happened a day or two after he started crawling. Thankfully, we lowered his crib two weekends ago in preparation for all of this. (Thanks Mom for the help!)
He can clap, wave bye-bye, blow kisses all on command. Sometimes though we will ask him to clap and he will wave instead. :) But I'm very impressed that he knows how to do all of those when we ask him!
He is saying "da" much more now. Thought he still says "ma" when he is upset or wants me to come get him!
He is eating a lot of table food. Pretty much anything that we give him he will eat happily. He does still gag a lot, but just continues right along eating. So far he has eaten pickles, crackers, lemons, green beans, pintos, potatoes, broccoli and cheese, cube cheese, poppy seed chicken, roast, carrots, chicken parmesan, and kind of bread, peaches, tomatoes, and I'm sure there is more that I haven't mentioned. He is still eating a lot of baby food too. He usually eats about 3 Stage 2 and 1 Stage 3 a day. Hopefully we will move to more and more table food. I'm waiting for his 9 month appointment to figure out how to go from there.
His sleeping has gotten a little bit better. He still will not nap on his own. We had been trying to get him to fall asleep on his own, and he would literally play and talk to himself in his crib for an hour! How was he still awake?!?! I tried this for a week, and sometimes he would fall asleep (after 30 minutes to an hour) and sometimes he wouldn't. So finally I have decided to rock him to sleep until that doesn't work any more. Usually it takes about 10 minutes for him to fall asleep when I rock him. He then will nap for an hour and fifteen to an hour and a half. Most days he takes 2 naps. Now, for bedtime, he will fall asleep on his own. I don't know what the difference is for bedtime and nap time, but apparently there is a difference. He is still waking up at least once at night. Thankfully it isn't till around 4:30 in the morning, but I would still prefer he slept all night. I am nursing him when he wakes up because I'm not sure if he is hungry (since it is so close to morning), but this is another question I'm going to ask the doctor about!
He has 2 teeth!! It is so funny to look at though. He has one on the top right and then the other on the bottom left. Matt says he looks like a jack-o-lantern! The other two teeth are trying to come in, but so far have not made an appearance. I thought for sure his 2 bottom teeth would come in before the top teeth, but I guess not!
Cooper is such a good baby! He is so good natured. He does not cry a lot, and almost always has a smile for me. He willingly goes to other people at church. I'm not sure if it is because he has been passed around his whole life, or if that is just his demeanor. But I am thankful for it! He has been such a blessing to our life. Bring on the next 9 months!