What a sitter!

Ethan finally learned (early last week) how to sit down by himself. Which means no more crying at the end of the couch, staring up at us with those big blue eyes, begging to be helped down to the ground. It also means that now he is even better at moving around the house than before, thus making his mother infintely more nervous about stepping up the babyproofing efforts. It's really unbelievable how many things you need to lock down, secure to the wall, latch, put away, lift up, or just plain get rid of when you have a crawler in the house. I guess that's why some people buy those superyards, instead; it keeps them contained in a much smaller space, so that you don't need to do a complete lock-down on the whole house. I almost wish that would work for us, but I don't see him being content in a confined space like that. And when baby's not content, ain't nobody happy.

He has also grown out of his 12-month onesies, which means I've got to stock up on 18-month clothing now. He just turned 9 months old, people! Sheesh! At least it's fun to browse through the baby clothes department in stores. Although I have noticed that the girls' options seem to outnumber boys' clothes by about 5:1. No exaggeration. And there is so much more variety, as well; boys seem to get denim, cords, and khaki, all with variations along a similar theme: vehicles, sports, monsters, or dirt. He can have all the trucks, bugs, skulls, aliens, or superheroes that he wants, but can we ever just get a basic shirt? Or one that has cool colors, but no football slogans? Why, that would be preposterous!! Girls, on the other hand, get endless options for their wardrobes. It's funny how early this gender bias starts... and it's not just all about making boys uber-masculine, either. When my niece was a baby, I sometimes searched for hours for something that wasn't pink or purple or sparkly. You know, something meant for a "kid" instead of something designed for "princess poofy giggle pants". Now, of course, I could buy something with "Tease" across the butt, or "Apple Bottom" jeans for toddlers... perfect!