Dear Ethan

Today you are almost 9 months old. You sit up very proudly with your back very straight, chest out, and a look on your face that says, "I am Ethan. I am very strong." You like to bounce while you sit there. Maybe you'll be musical, or play the drums like your dad. You crawl like an army man, and you can really move! I can't turn my back on you for a second. If I do, you're sure to be wherever there is potential for danger. Maybe when you get big, you'll be like your daddy, who can put together, take apart, fix and figure out any electronic thing there is. You are very curious and you have an instinctive attraction to things that possess some kind of power: electrical outlets, wires, cords, Daddy's laptop, the DVR, the Playstation, the remotes and the Ipod. Maybe you will like to master a challenge when you grow up, or maybe you will surround yourself with smart and powerful people.
You love to be lightly swung or quickly lifted so you can feel little butterflies in your belly and view the world from higher up. Now you are showing a desire to pull up on things to see what else you can get into. You have the cutest little open mouthed giggle. Your two bottom teeth show only when you are very happy. You respond to smiles with a little grin most of the time, but you reserve big smiles and laughs for truly happy moments.
You have a cute little habit of putting your hand up to your mouth and acting like your sucking it. I say you are eating an imaginary hamburger. Lately, you've been pulling your shirt up below the collar and nibbling it when you're hungry or sleepy. I can hear you in your crib on the monitor smacking your lips on your t-shirt hamburger.
You eat very well. I make all of your food myself, so I know that you and Emma are getting nothing but the good stuff. New foods take a day or two to grow on you. You make the funniest yucky faces when you encounter a new texture or new taste. Your favorite foods seem to be avocado, peas, and sweet potato. You have yet to reject a food entirely though. So far you and Emma are vegetarians: Avocado, sweet potato, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, beets, peas, green beans, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, carrots, cantaloupe, bananas, apples, pears, cereal, and lentils. I'm new to this whole vegetable world. My eating habits are more inclined to carbs and protein. I am really hoping to enter into a new eating chapter.
You love to jump in your Johnny Jump-Up. You get so excited and let out loud emphatic screeches. You run around and around, lift up your legs and swing back and forth. Your Mimi says you are flying like Peter Pan.
I have a feeling you'll keep me on my toes, little man. I'm loving you and everything you're teaching me. I'm new at this, so take it easy on me, ok, Ethan Dempsey Doo?
Love,
Mommy