Our 9 month old, on the outside as long as she was on the inside! At 9 months, our little girl loves to bang on drums, play with toy cars, smile at everyone, get tossed in the air, scream with joy at the top of her lungs, be carried, wiggle, splash water, feed herself with finger foods, attempt to feed herself with the spoon, and laugh. She has 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on the bottom. She weighs 20 pounds, 12 ounces, and is 27 inches long. She loves it when Elliott horses around with her. Even though J and I try to keep him from wrestling with her, it’s hard to reinforce as she just giggles with glee . She still isn’t crawling, a big difference from Elliott at this age, who was quite mobile at 9 months. Instead she pushes herself backwards to get around. But she stands very solidly. She can’t pull herself up, but when we help her on her feet, she balances really well. If she’s leaning on furniture, she can even play with a toy while standing.
Solid foods are clearly taking precedent over milk, and Nora is really adventurous and curious about new foods. She’ll eat almost anything we put in front of her, from fish to citrus fruits to pasta. She still has milk first thing in the morning, before both naps, and bed, but that’s it. I stopped pumping two weeks ago (YAY!!!!) but still nurse Nora for that morning feeding and overnight if needed. But now, more often than not, she sleeps all night, from 6 pm – 5:15 or 5:30. I’d love to get her to sleep in longer. I try each morning to get her to go back to sleep after I feed her, but no luck yet!
Most recently we are all getting over a round of colds. This was Nora’s first cold that really bothered her, and I suspect affected her ears. She has never been this fussy, and has been a handful overnight, awake off and on for hours. This is especially awesome when J and I are also sick, and desperately in need of some sleep. There is nothing like the pain of finally falling asleep, only to be awakened the moment you drift off. It’s torture at any time, but especially when you’re sick. I know it all comes with the territory, but it still sucks when it happens.
On a brighter note, Nora’s communication skills are developing nicely. You can see her watching as you talk to her, it’s really sweet. She says “dada” often, and has slipped in a beloved “mama” or two. Elliott loves to announce when she says a word. She mimics sounds back to us, and I’ve started using some baby signs with her to see if she catches on to those soon. She is very noisy, and in some of the videos I have here, you’ll hear her screech and babble really loudly!
In terms of personality, Nora continues to be a bright, sweet and social little gal. She’s becoming quite independent, too. As mentioned above, her preference is to feed herself, always reaching for the spoon. If I show her how a toy works, she watches once or twice, and then insists on grabbing it and trying it alone. She gets very annoyed if she’s working on something, but one of us takes it away. She watches everything and everyone very closely. She has a sense of calm about her, but at the same time still quite busy and always wiggling and moving. She definitely lets you know when she wants or needs something – no wall flowers here!
I so love my darling girl. I want to squeeze her right now, kiss her 5 million times, and bottle up her yummy, sunny, soft, chubby, perfect 9 month old babiness for always and always.
1 guess who was making her laugh so hard here…
When I learned we were having a girl, all sorts of visions came to mind of what my daughter would look like. And she always had pigtails in them, because they are the best!
But of course Elliott wouldn’t let Nora have pigtails when he didn’t have any!
Calling out for Daddy:
Little miss scoochers:
Growling. Like a wild animal, seriously!
Our little friend Abbey will be sharing Leslie with us for only a few more weeks, as she is moving on to preschool in September. I hate to think of breaking up this gang.
Our water baby loves to splash!
A family adventure to meet Thomas and go on a train ride. Nora wasn’t that into it, but Elliott was over the moon. And J and I had a blast sharing in his excitement!
A little girl hard at work.
Which can wear her out.
Standing tall! I love that her face is blocked, here. Puts the focus on her chunky legs!
And while not officially a Nora milestone, it was one for Elliott – his first bus trip with mommy and his first movie. Planes: Fire and Rescue, for those interested in what we saw. He only got wiggly at the end, but he sure loved that bus trip!
Adoring daddy:
Another lunchtime visit with mommy, this time to the waterfront and a carousel ride.
Best girl in the world!
So sweet Linda, thank you for sharing!
Its so touching to see the love you have for your family and the love they have for you.