Nine Oh Nine!

Luke you have now spent more time out in the world than you did inside my belly, which seems amazing to me because it seems like you have been with us for so much longer than nine months.

You are crawling everywhere and fast. I turn my back and you are down the hall giggling and laughing at your cleverness at getting away from me. You are also all about pulling yourself up on everything - drawers, chairs, your crib, the couch, the wall (I think you might be Spiderman), up a closed door, the laundry basket, tables, out of the pool, anything that can get your to the standing position. You are starting to take very tiny hesitant steps to the side but when I hold your arms and ask you if you want to try to walk you immediately sit down and crawl away. It seems that you are going to walk on your own terms. I am fine with this as I am in no hurry to see you walking.

You have started to wave; at least we think you might be waving as you are waving just one hand and it doesn't look like you are flapping your arms the way you usually do when you are excited. You also pound your high chair tray and yell when you want more food. On the rare occasions that you are really hungry you sit with your mouth open waiting for me to spoon more food in. It is adorable although sometimes I fear I may be sitting at your table in college spooning food into your mouth because teaching you how to use a spoon is an exercise in extreme frustration.

You are getting so much more independent. When we go to Little Gym now you don't stay next to me the entire time, but instead head straight to the center of the circle to empty out the box of rattles and bells. Or you go around visiting with the other parents. At playgroup you cruise around climbing over the other babies as they crawl over you. Sometimes you circle back around and check in with me but most of the time you are just happy to check out all the cool toys that you don't have at home.

We went to Sun Valley last week and fulfilled a long cherished wish of your dad's to take you fly fishing. Fly fishing with a baby, it turns out, is much more difficult than fly fishing with two adults mainly because we have to plan so meticulously around your naps and meals. But last Saturday we were able to pull it off and we felt like rock stars. As soon as you awoke from your morning nap, we wisked you into the car, went to lunch where you were remarkably laid back in your high chair and then we hustled to the Big Wood River and packed you into the Ergo. Your dad and I took turns casting while you sat on the bank and ate your first handfuls of sand. You were a great sport watching your dad fish and were so excited when he caught a baby fish and brought it over for you to see. As we were headed back we stopped at one more spot and I actually managed to catch a lovely brown trout and your dad waded in to help me land it leaving you safely on the shore. I turned around and looked back to see you happily sitting on the bank eating a rock. There we were, the Reymanns, fishing. Fishing as a family.