It's the end of the world as we knew it!

Ethan enjoying the 10 degree weather and new snow from the inside the house!

Ethan is in such a fun stage. I feel like the last couple of weeks he has changed a ton! He is now crawling quickly, pulling himself up on everything, climbing everything, getting into trash cans, eating dirty brooms, putting bite marks on his crib, pulling chairs on top of himself etc. It is so fun to watch him grow and learn, and so hard to watch him fall and a goose egg form on his head. He moves so fast and wants to explore EVERYTHING...he definitely gave himself a few bumps and bruises last week. I think I'm going to invent a fashionable hard helmet for kids to wear until they are about 3!
To hopefully eliminate a few future injuries we have invested in a few baby gates that we can move around. Yesterday as I was trying to finish a sewing project in time for a baby shower I put him on the other side of the gate so he couldn't get the hot iron. He stood up on the gate and looked at me pleading like he was a caged animal at the zoo...

I think he is saying, "don't fence me in Mom!"

I read in the baby book that 9 month olds can understand "no." Is this true? This week I tried to tell him "no" in a very seriously toned voice when certain things (the Internet router) were off limits. Everytime I said "no" with my stern face he would look at me and start laughing and then do it again like it was a new game! I guess we will try no next week. Apparently I need a meaner tone.
I am absolutely loving how he is interacting and playing with us more. He shrieks and laughs when Clark wrestles with him. We even play hide and seek, he crawls around to find me wherever I am in the room and laughs. He is such a little ham. He seems to just know the ladies at church that will pay him extra attention and seeks them out.
This Tuesday at 6 am he is having a little surgery to fix a clogged tear duct. The surgery is minor, but he will have to be sedated to have it. I hate the thought of our little rambunctious bubby being sedated! Only 2 more days for me to worry.

How could you not love this little guy?