Dear Asher,

Last week you turned nine months old. Just when I don’t think you can possibly be any cuter, you smack me upside the head with a 2×4 of even more cuteness! You have got to be the happiest baby to ever grace the face of the earth. I never imagined that a baby could be so happy.

The best part of my day is walking through the door when I get home from work. You get soooo excited to see me, as if I’ve been away for weeks… You give me the biggest smiles and laughs, then you squeal until I pick you up and give you a big hug… for 2 seconds, then you promptly reach for the floor and squeal just as loud for me to let you back down because I’ve just wasted 20 seconds of precious time that you could have been playing. It’s all you want to do lately. Your increased mobility over the past month has been the catalyst for your transformation into ‘sir-plays-a-lot’. You are constantly in motion; up, down, up, down, this room, that room… dragging toys around and leaving them spread about all over the place. Most of the time our house looks like a Baby-Einstein grenade went off.

Your mother has been using sign language with you for a couple of months now. So far, the only sign you could sort of mimic was the sign for ‘more’ (2 hands touching fingertips). You’ve mastered ‘more’ and moved on to my personal favorite, the sign for ‘milk’ (one hand squeezing the air like milking an invisible cow). Any time you’re hungry and momma is nearby, you start milking that invisible cow with every ounce of your being. I love that you can communicate, but would it be too much to ask for just one ‘Dada’?

Yesterday we took you to the doctor for your 9 month checkup. You are now a lean, mean, 2’4 (30in), 20lbs playin’ machine. You’re almost as tall as Verne Troyer/Mini-me (2’7) from the Austin Powers movies, although I’m sure you could already whip his ass in a block stacking competition. The doc predicts that you’ll be around 6’3 180lbs as an adult, but gauging from the amount of food you eat on a daily basis, I’m guessing you’ll be about 9’5 680lbs… I have absolutely no idea how you eat that much food. Where does it go? Every day you eat 1 or 2 whole bananas, 3 bowls of applesauce and/or various stage 2 baby foods, toast, crackers, puffs, rice cakes, and of course, 5 yummy servings of momma’s magical boob-juice. You definitely get your appetite from my side of the family. You’d think that since you can use your hands to communicate, you’d also be coordinated enough to eat your dinner without making too much of a mess. Not a chance…

You took a bunch of trips to some fun places this month. A couple weeks ago, you made your first ever visit to the Zoo. Your mom, both of your grandmas, your cousin Ally, and I tagged along. The Zoo was awesome, but I think you preferred the 45 minute train ride to get there. Your mom and grandma also took you to the Dallas Arboretum and got some great pictures. At what age does it become sissy for a boy to be in pictures with a bunch of flowers?? I’ll let you decide. You even came to visit me at work a couple of times… we packed up lunch and went across the street from my office for a little picnic while the weather was still great. Soon it will be hotter than a snake’s ass in a wagon rut. Good Times.

Love,
Papa