Every Day Ayla - Month 9

If I felt like she grew fast in months past, I feel like she added turbo boost this month. Some skills she developed this month are:

-pincer grasp

-opening and closing things (like the toy laptop in the pictures above)

-understands "no," but doesn't always obey (yet!)

-pulls up to knees

-pulls up to feet (yesterday!)

-beginning to cruise

-clapping

-This

-eating with spoon (assisted)

-rolling ball

-blowing through mouth

-sticking out her tongue (I keep laughing at her, so she keeps doing it)

Speaking of her tongue, this month she discovered licking. She still has no teeth and still puts everything in her mouth and chews on most everything, but she now also licks it. My mother-in-law told me that babies experience the world mostly through their mouths and fingers, and I've seen this in that she wants to touch and feel everything.

Then there's my face. So the licking and the touching, and my face. I think I need my full-face helmet!

We have been having so much fun trying different foods and adding seasonings like cinnamon and cumin to it. For mushy things like hummus or applesauce, I put a little on a spoon and hand it to her to put in her mouth. She gets it in there, then "hands" the spoon back for more. We're still working on that part of it, but she seems to enjoy eating like Mommy does. She says something like "na na na" when she sees food and is getting impatient to eat. We're also working on the signs for "more" and "finished," but she gets her point across! She hasn't met many foods she doesn't like, but she won't give white-flesh potatoes or cauliflower the time of day.

As you know, sleep is always a moving target (pun intended, see last blog). We dropped the 3rd nap and moved bedtime up to 6:30. That seems to be working well, and even if she goes down later, she's still up around 6 to eat. Since yesterday, when she learned how to stand up in her crib, she has just done that instead of taking her morning naps. I'm hopeful the novelty will wear off soon and she'll get back together with it. They were really cute together.

We went for her 9-month check-up today and here are the stats:

Weight-17lb 6.5oz (25th percentile)

Length-26.5in (25th percentile)

Head circumference-mumbled and jotted down by doctor, but not heard by mommy (so, perfect)

Our doctor said it's not unusual for babies' growth to slow down when they get mobile and that Ayla was healthy and developing well, so she had no concerns. Well, that's not exactly true. She was concerned about how wet the ear pieces of her stethoscope were after Ayla gave them a thorough oral inspection. (I know--gross. What can I do, though, she's so cute!)

She talks, laughs and sings all the time. I think she knows her name and she always smiles really big when we talk about Daddy. She gets to talk to him on Skype or FaceTime a few times a week, and hears his voice whenever he calls when she's awake. She loves looking at pictures of him in her chewable picture book and started beaming when she saw a picture of us in the living room.

I have since moved the picture, it was a little too tempting there.

Look, I know I'm biased, but she is one of the happiest, well-mannered babies I've ever met. I have confirmation of this from everyone who spends time with her, from the ladies in the gym nursery to the ladies in the church nursery. Well, I guess that's just nursery workers. But I'll take their word for it!

I'm so blessed that she's my daughter and most days I feel like the luckiest person in the world! Here are the last 30 days:

PS- Notice how awesome the "9" pictures at the top and the every-day picture from 4 days ago are? They were taken by my friend, the talented Ginny Filer and are part of her 9-month photo shoot. You can see the rest here, and like her page on Facebook. I cannot recommend her strongly enough for all of your photography needs!