Here's what month NINE had to offer:
-You do this adorable closed mouth, breathy laugh thing. It's so hard to explain in words, but it's the most hilarious giggle ever. I hope you never stop.
-You have started to dance when you hear music or get excited about things. Really you just bounce up and down, bob your head and wave your arms (sometimes), but I call it dancing. Similar to your father. ;)
-You learned to wave when someone says bye bye or hi to you! Majorly cute!
-We hit your eight month sleep regression, and it's finally starting to calm down again. For a while you would wake up 3-4 times a night and scream in anger for a good long while. Now, you wake up twice to eat and go back down without a peep. I know your first wake up is purely out of habit, because you hardly eat much, so let's work on dropping that. ASAP.
-Your naps have finally extended themselves! Woohoo! Your morning and afternoon naps are just about two hour a piece but sometimes they'll be a tad short, so we throw in a third cat nap on occasion. But you're sleeping wonderfully and always fall asleep on your own after I say a Hail Mary and I Love You before putting you in the crib.
-We celebrated my first official Mother's Day! You were extra cute and made me cry thinking about how blessed I am to be your mama.
-You're starting to rely more on solid food when you're hungry. You eat three meals a day, usually, and love table food over purées. You chew like an adult with a full set of teeth, despite only having two! Your favorite foods are peas, blueberries, and Cheerios.
-I think you are starting to get bored with a lot of your infant toys. You love playing with cause and effect toys/things versus the millions of chew toys you have. Watching you inspect an object and discover how it works is amazing!
-Despite it raining pretty much every single day this month, we did find our way to the park, zoo and (indoor) pool. You love being active! Hopefully we can take you on many more adventures this summer!
-When we open the door to go outside you start waving your hands, kicking your feet and laugh like crazy! Being outside is your favorite thing!
-I'm fairly certain you think your stuffed animals are real when I pretend to make them tickle you. Sometimes you look very concerned about it.
-Playing in the two bottom drawers in the kitchen is your daily goal. Anytime you see the baby gate open, you book it straight to the drawers!
-If a grown man, other than your father, so much as looks at you, you decide it isn't ok and cry. Especially if it's a priest... Hopefully it doesn't last!
-You're finally super attached to your daddy! When he leaves for work in the morning you cry your pretty little eyes out the second the door closes behind him. He secretly loves it. Me too.
-You started forming the /b/ sound. You will repeat "ba ba ba" a few times and then stop producing sound, but continue opening and closing your mouth. No idea why, but it's cute. You also say "mama" while reaching for me when you're sad and almost always sound like you're saying "haaaat". You're super talkative these days!
-While in the car seat, you love holding your feet, playing with your shoes, and talking to yourself in the mirror.
-You really love to self feed. I guess I should just start embracing the mess...
-When you smile, you crinkle your little nose in the most perfect way.
-Despite us not having any stairs in our home, you climbed an entire flight, on your own, on the first try, in less than a minute. Super baby.
-This month you've been able to play with a few other kids and you've tried so hard to keep up with the toddlers. You love to chase big kids around and jump on them.
-Daddy officially finished his first year of teaching and we are on summer break!!!!
Notes from Doctor G:
Weight: 20lbs 4oz. 83%
Height: 28 1/2in. 82%
Head circumference: 17 1/8in. 85%
You're doing amazingly well developmentally! You lost weight since your six month appointment but Dr. G isn't worried since you've been so mobile since then and clearly you're not just skin and bones! Finally you're sliming down and not growing as fast, which is good for your wordrobe! We didn't get any shots this time, but they tested your iron levels. They were a tiny bit low, but nothing some extra beans, meat and spinach won't fix!
Photos from month nine:
