My Little Ninja

I love this age. I say that so many times in the first year, but truly, nine-month-olds are So. Much. Fun.

For the last nine months Adam has been a constant source of joy (and entertainment) for our whole family. I find myself thinking, "I never want to forget [fill in the blank] about Adam at this age!"

Like how he rolls his tongue around inside his mouth and sucks on it, as if he is a connoisseur of fine food, when there is no food in sight...
How he plays peek-a-boo in his car seat when he's feeling shy by turning his head as far as he can to one side so that only one eye is exposed...
How he was the only one of my three kids to not cry when we all got the flu shot...
How I freak out when his brother sits on him or steam rolls him, though it only makes him belly-laugh...
How he opens his mouth well in advance of a spoonful of food being anywhere near...
How he spits Cheerios out, letting them dribble down and collect on his chin like a beard...
How he waves with a twist of his wrist anytime he hears someone say the word 'hi' or 'bye' or 'goodnight'...
How he lets out a staccato squeal of joy when he gets something in his hand that he's excited about, and how he proudly holds it up high for all to see...
How his whole body wiggles when he's happy...
How he flaps his arms to try to join his siblings when they jump up and down...
How he bounces to any kind of music...
How he claps so gently...
How he growls with his mouth wide open, like the old 'wazzup' commercials...
How he splashes in the bathtub, in total seriousness, as if it were his job...
How he tries to grab the bar of his car seat with his feet, like a monkey...
And how he just started a proper crawl, but he still gets around quite well with his super ninja roll, in which he purposefully lays down to roll wherever he wants to go, then sits back up...

Just today, crawling became his primary source of mobilization, which sadly means that the ninja roll will most likely become a thing of memory sooner than later. And so will most of the things I listed above, in time.

Most of these I cannot capture anywhere but in my heart and memory. But this one thing I can. And so, for nostalgia's sake, I present to you Adam's ninja roll.

(Yes, I call it a ninja roll. What would you call it?)