Nine Months

Nine months. She has now been on the outside as long as she was on the inside.  I was looking at some pictures from last summer, and I just can’t believe how different she looks now. I’ve always thought she was cute as a button, but she really is so much cuter now than she was when she was first born. I think her personality has a lot to do with that. Clare has the cutest little laugh – have I mentioned it before? She doesn’t laugh that often, she usually just shrieks with joy, but when I can get that giggle it makes my whole day. The other thing that makes my whole day: Clare’s absolute excitement at seeing me when I come to get her in the mornings. I may have mentioned this before, too, but oh, it is so precious. She acts like we’ve been apart for months rather than hours.

Oh, and this happened:

She only manages to pull herself all the way onto her feet once in a while, but she is working hard at it. She has taken more than a few tumbles, but doesn’t seem to be any worse for wear. When I go into her room in the morning, I see her little hands on the top of the crib, her head tilted back as she tries to see over the top bar. We’ve already lowered her mattress once, and I think we will need to do it again soon.

She has been crawling like crazy – she still does the army crawl, but also pulls herself onto her hands and knees regularly. If Ben and I are in another part of the room, she charges for us. She will not be left out, Little Miss Social. She is babbling constantly – she says Dada, but I don’t think she’s made the connection to Ben. Other than that, I haven’t picked out any definite words yet. 

She loves playing with her blocks – I build a tower and she knocks it over. If I am holding a toy, she wants it, even if she has 3 in her hands. I guess the grass is greener even when you are a baby. She also loves books – and has actually started showing interest in the pictures on the page rather than just using them to chew on. (I had to stop letting her do that so much, I am afraid she has ingested more than just a little bit of “Moo, Baa, La La La.”)  She adores animals, and I can’t wait for her first trip to the zoo. She is going to absolutely flip. She also loves it when Mommy or Daddy is playing on the floor with her - Mommy is her favorite jungle gym.

She is growing and changing so fast – I feel like I can’t keep up. I just read Anne Lamott’s book, “Operating Instructions,” and it made me wish I had written more about Clare. I want to record every minute! I know this is not realistic, but still. It feels so fleeting. I just want to bottle her up so I can revisit this age when she has turned into an acne-covered, parent-hating teenager.

She is doing pretty well with solid foods. She had her first avocado last week, and is having her first chicken today. We started practicing with finger foods (mostly just some organic puffs I found at the co-op). She had some trouble at first, but seems to be getting the hang of it. With her 9 teeth, she looks like she could eat a steak. She also shared a banana with me the other day. We were in the living room – she wouldn’t eat it with her fingers, but she helpfully opened her mouth. Insert food, please!

I went away for a much needed girls’ night last weekend (Wine! Shopping! Gossip! Knitting! Yes, you read that right. I knit now. Sort of.) I had a blast, but I missed the heck out of Clare. When I got home on Sunday, she could have cared less. Of course, she had her Daddy. And, when it came time to eat, she was happy I was there. I guess Mommy is good for something after all.

I actually made that hat!