Reflections of summer

I just can't believe that summer is coming to a close. Ethan has grown up so much! When summer started, he was only six months old. He couldn't crawl, had no teeth, and I hardly knew what his schedule was. Here are some of my favorite memories of the summer:
Rainy days early in June.
Going to visit Great-Grandma as often as possible.
Playing outside on the grass every morning, and checking to see which flowers had new blossoms.

Warming up the swimming pool for late afternoon swims.

Playing with kitchen utensils. Ethan just might have a future as a drummer!

Ethan loves his doggy and special ducky blankey. He likes to sleep with them right by his face.

Some of Ethan's new skills and milestones:
Now he can scoot around, and is pretty close to crawling. In fact, as of today, I really think we can call it crawling. He has to plop down on his belly every few feet, but he can make his way all over the living room floor.
Recently he figured out how to push himself up from his belly to a sitting up position.
Several weeks ago he got his first tooth. (Is it bad if I don't remember the exact date?) And last week he got his second little tooth.
This afternoon he crawled up one step in our living room/entry way.
Ethan loves to give high-fives.

On Friday, he finally mastered the art of clapping! He claps at everything. Funny jokes, funny faces, good food, mama picking him up from the babysitter, mama putting him to bed and saying, "Ethan, you're tired. Now, go to bed!" Oh, and he laughs when he drops the binky out of his crib and we get on our hands and knees to pick it up. He thinks we're playing peek-a-boo. It just might be time to get rid of the binky!

Ethan also is starting to show a bit of a temper. He's always been a little impatient if he has a special need, like food or sleep. It must be the first child thing (always someone there to meet his every wish). But now he's been kicking his legs and screaming if he doesn't get his way or if we don't read his mind on what he wants. He's getting older, and he's also probably not getting as much sleep as he needs at his new babysitter's house. Not quite sure what to do about the temper, so I welcome any insights on 9-month-olds.

Last week Ethan had his 9-month check-up. Twenty pounds and 29 inches. Fiftieth percentile on those two things, but 90+ percentile on his head. We had to move to a bigger carseat this weekend.

What a great summer! Our boy is growing so much! I'm excited to see what the next three months bring!