...nine months...

My baby girl is nine months old today.  She has now been out of womb for as long as she was in, which seemed significant until I wrote it.  Anyhow, she is growing and learning and amusing me and driving me crazy all at the same time.  She pulls herself up on anything and everything, sturdy or not, which makes for some precarious balancing moments and a few crashes here and there.  She especially loves to pull herself up on my legs, making any task that requires me to stand extra challenging.  Dishes and cooking have required new strategies as of late.  She cruises around the house using the furniture and walls for support, and sometimes she forgets that she really can't walk yet.  She just lets go and expects me to catch her, never mind that I'm on the other side of the room.  She actually can stand on her own for a few seconds before plopping down on her butt or diving for my arms for support.  It is so cute to watch her realize she can stand on her own - she looks really proud for a second, that is, until she realizes she's about to fall.  Then, terror!

She isn't a big eater, which surprises me.  She's only recently begun eating food again - she went on "strike" for about a month.  Must get that from her father.  No person in my family ever has a problem with consuming enough food.  Her chunky thighs and butt reassure me that she is certainly getting enough nourishment.  Lately, she is enjoying eating again, but only if she can put the food in her mouth herself.  Seriously, she refuses to eat from a spoon or fork, baby or regular, but if it's a chunk she can grab and put in her own mouth, then she'll gobble it up.  Cheerios are a definite favorite, along with peas and corn (which make for interesting diapers), carrots, pears, and french toast.  Actually, she gobbles anything she can grab, food or otherwise, though I doubt the gobbling is hunger-induced.  The other night she discovered dog food comes in nuggets just right for her little fingers and she is constantly finding things in the carpet that remind me I need to vacuum more often.

She babbles and yells a ton.  Seriously, the girl has some vocal cords.  Good to know she got something from me - lack of an "inside" voice.  She still loves her animals, they can always bring a smile to her face.  I'm pretty sure her first word will be "doggie" or "kitty" or maybe even "woof".  I'm really working on "mama" but so far all I can decipher is "Yay Yay Yay" repeated over and over while wildly shaking her head from side to side.  Weird, but cute and funny to watch.  She probably gets the "weird" from me too.

We love our sweet girl so much (obviously).  Who wouldn't?  I catch myself rocking her a little longer lately after she has fallen asleep, just to look at her sweet little face and watch her breathe and smell her sweet babyness.  I know it will be gone too soon.