Total Creeper: Pike at 9.75 Months

Time seems to fly. I can't believe that Pike is almost ten months old. I can't believe my baby can do so many things. I look at pictures of him right after he was born and am absolutely FLOORED by the fact that not only has he grown so much, he just gets more amazing all the time. So here's what he's up to:

• Still crawling. Lots. Quickly. He gets faster all the time. His technique is still the army crawl, but he's an expert now.
• Creeping. While he can't stand himself, if you put him up against something, he can now hitch himself around and is even working tentatively on transitioning between objects (our ottomans and the couch, for example).
• Sitting up. Again, he isn't sitting up on his own yet (in terms of getting into the sitting position), but if we sit him up, he's getting pretty good at staying there. He's no expert yet, but he'll get there.
• Latching onto objects. He's starting to associate certain objects or certain things with certain times or tasks. For example, Wes was entertaining him after his bath last night and he was fidgety and kept looking over the the chaise lounge - which is where I feed him before bed. He also clings to his glow horse in the morning if we wake him up before he's ready since he knows that's what sleeps with him.
• He's allowed to eat soft foods, and is starting too: mashed up banana and sweet potato are the main ones so far, but we're slowly introducing more. It's weird having him eat something so close to "real" food even if it is mashed up. 
• He's far more vocal than he was before, and we think he's slowly putting together what words belong to what objects/people, though that's not consistent yet. 
• Pike's far more aware of his environment - where people go if they leave the room, what happens to objects he throws, what the stuff around him looks like. If he's on the floor in the living room and Wes or I are in the kitchen, he'll start crying and crawl his way in to us so we can pick him up.
• Puppies! He's finally realized that he has puppies and that he can play with them, pet them, and chase them around. And he loves it.
• He's trying out a sippy cup, though the technique isn't really there yet. Still it's very entertaining to watch.
• He knows, in theory, what no means. He doesn't always entirely stop what he's doing, but he'll pause (and often grin). Sometimes after a few rounds, he'll quit altogether, sometimes we have to redirect him.
• After watching mommy and daddy use them so much, Pike really, really wants to play with computers and Kindles. Which we let him do in limited, observed amounts. It's pretty funny. He's slowly figuring out that touching the touch screen affects what's happening, and it's fascinating.
• Give him a hand! He can clap now, and we're working on high fives and patty cake. He finds them funny but hasn't totally caught on just yet.