Boncel family happenings: Nicky is 9 months old!

Can't believe 2010 has just flown by! Nicky is having a great holiday season, spending it with his friends and family - visiting Austin in November, Thanksgiving in Tucson, celebrating his first St. Nick's, secret Santa at Playgroup, and now getting ready for Christmas! He turned 9 months old on the 16th and had his check-up. Here are some stats:
Height: 29 inches (75th-90th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs 12 oz. (10-25th percentile)

Nicky is either crawling, standing, or walking along something, that it's rare that we get shots like this:

He is starting to eat different things outside of just pureed baby food - he's had scrambled eggs with mom and dad at breakfast, and has puffs before his meals (we call them his appetizers, and its a HUGE distraction for him so we can get his real food ready!), and more stage 3 foods including pasta and chicken! I have him completely weened off of breastmilk (he hasn't had any since Thanksgiving weekend) and it was surprisingly a very easy experience, for the both of us. I just have to think about I got him to 8.5 months, when I was ready to give up at 3 months! I put away the boppy a couple of weeks ago, it had a good run. Although he only has 2 teeth, it doesn't stop him from trying new things. And he'll let you know when he's done eating - he will just blow raspberries at you and then smile - I've had to wipe my face a couple of times, and it's hard NOT to laugh with him!

Nicky is just all smiles these days - I wonder if his cheeks get tired - as you will see in these photos, he is always saying CHEESE!

Not walking yet, but he's been able to stand and hold on to the side of the couch and scoot all the way around.

He loves his new bike, and because he loves to stand so much, it leads to things like this:

Future BMX rider

Taking his growth picture this month has proved to be difficult. Here is my first attempt:

Then we realized we just have to put him in his chair (but hold him still at the same time) in order for us to get a shot:

We put up the Christmas tree last weekend - can't wait for friends and family to see it in person!

The tree is in the front living room, and Nicky usually doesn't crawl there, so far so good (we did get a baby fence just in case!) Surprisingly, both Dodger and Bentley haven't given the tree much thought or attention either!