Lincoln is 9 months old already!

Though Lincoln isn't mobile, he certainly is getting a lot more active!  He has a little bit of scooting that he does, getting to things as  he needs, and he is working on a crawl, just usually manages to grab whatever he wanted by hitting something against another thing with his arm extended as far out as possible.  It's pretty cute, but makes mom quite nervous in the bathtub portion of the evening!  He does a lot of feet grabbing - and waving legs out to the side when he is on his back.  He also is very active with both of his hands.  He generally wants to have something in each hand and or does a lot of switching back and forth with his toys.  I love watching him play with the ball popper, because he is very good at grabbing the balls out and then putting them back in the appropriate place.  He is very sneaky about what he can grab, so we have to be careful about what's around him.  Lately, he's been able to pickup the lint off our carpet! Now if he could just do it consecutively we'd have a little vacuum!  He is very involved with all his toys; he thoroughly enjoys taking toys in and out of other toys.  He likes to put a toy on the edge of his turned over toy basket/tub and then watch that toy slide off.  His favorite toy combos are his spoon and one of the stacking cups, one of the shaker eggs and a stacking cup or his texture balls.

His interactive personality has picked up immensely in the last month; he frequently plays peekaboo by putting his blanket over his face and then quickly pulling it down, and being jazzed about the results!  He also has a sense of humor because he regularly laughs at jokes and gets when he himself is being funny.  He is very good at tug of war, and he enjoys playing peek, even when he initiates it.  He likes it when mom "starts something with him" and he gets that we are joking.  He laughs about how funny he thinks he is!  We were just saying tonight that he seems to laugh and giggle quite a bit for a baby.  He is a happy baby these days! 

We've especially appreciated his interest in nursing to sleep.  At first when I returned from Europe he wasn't too interested in that, so it still meant a 10 minute cry session in advance of sleep.  But that was a step up from where he has been in the months prior.  Anyhow, about a week after I got home, we got in a good routine, getting him out of the tubby at the right time, where he was just tired enough he was ready to go down, but not too tired to nurse.  It has been really quite straightforward for the last three weeks or so..  When he isn't interested in nursing to sleep, then it's a tough 10 or 15 of crying until he's out.

At right after eight months, he was really eager to eat, at night usually going through 1.5 containers of baby food, but then shortly after he wasn't interested in much at all in the evenings; refusing anything after a bite or two.  Just recently, about three weeks after this started, he has come back to eating about one container each night.  Obviously he has some reserves, but it makes me feel better that he is interested once more in eating.  He just started some solid table foods this last week; he likes to hold onto green beans and chomp off of them - then he typically loses the rest of it on his lap.  He also has had some cheeses and some baked potatoes.  Oh, and he really enjoys his toes too!

He FINALLY said momma!!  It was clear as day the last time Ben was out of town (there was a three weeks pan where between Ben and I's travel work schedules, the kids must have thought they could only get one or the other!).  Anyhow, I had put him in his car seat (this is also right before we switched him to his big boy car seat; which was a long overdue switch might I add).  He was in his car seat in the living room while I tried to get Livvy to hustle, I was trying to put the pressure on by telling her Lincoln was in his carseat already.  Needless to say when I left the room, he cried out as loud as he could  "Mamamamamamamamamam" - it was so nice to hear, but now, since then, he doesn't say it for fun, but when he is serious about my attention he sure does! 

He's kind of been a little monkey when nursing.  He gets a little bit like an orangutan at times, and it can be a bit much, but with all the traveling I have done while he has been so young, I'm just pleased that he is happy to have me back.  He does a lot of chest rubbing and patting while he is nursing; which makes for good loving time. 

The last few days, he's been making a little 'eh' noise, when he wants something from us or to interact; it's adorable and my new favorite thing he does... 

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous for his next month; Lincoln being mobile seems like a lot more work than mom's ready for!

Update: Lincoln had his nine month checkup on 1 July, and here are his stats: 
Height: 29.5" (87%)
Weight: 24lbs 6oz (98%)
Head: 18.5" (92%)