9 months

Today, baby girl, you are   NINE.   MONTHS.   OLD.

Wow. Just rolling that age around in my mouth and mind feels weighty. Apparently you were quite impressed with it this morning as well, for as we sat together petting the kitties good morning, I turned to you and told you excitedly, "Ali! You are nine months old today!" and your eyes grew big and round, your mouth broke into a smile, and you started clapping! Seriously. That actually happened. Why should I even be surprised anymore when you are perfect and adorable??

What an fantastic month it's been. You are learning and growing and changing at light speed now, and it has been so amazing to witness it all. We'll start off with the biggest and best: you're mobile!! After months of being perfectly content to sit and play with whatever has been within reach, you finally decided that you wanted more. The first step was you learning how to go from sitting down onto your belly (without crashing face-first to the floor). Once you had that maneuver down, you started figuring out how to get where you wanted to go. Your first mode of transportation was what I call "inch-worm-wiggle-scooching." You kind of just . . . well . . . inch-wormed your way toward your goal, usually in a bit of a sideways direction, kind of like a sand crab or sidewinder snake. It was only a couple of days before you figured out the true "forward" direction, and now you're unstoppable! You haven't really figured out true crawling up on your hands and knees, so you do what is called creeping or army crawling. You pull with your arms and push with your feet, but you stay down on your stomach. You can get over, under, around, and through things, though! You are one determined little lady! And when there is something across the room that you REALLY want, you get there fast and make determined little grunts of effort with every push/pull. A-DORABLE. Your favorite is to crawl into or through spaces . . . you like to crawl into bookshelves and under cribs at school, and one of your favorite games at home is for us to make a fort with the couch cushions and to crawl around and through them.

In other physical developments this month, you have also learned how to go from laying on your stomach to sitting up! You did this one time when you were about 7.5 months old, but seemed to have forgotten how. Seeing as how you are spending a lot of time on your tummy now what with your mobility and all, and you were getting pretty frustrated that you would finally get where you were trying to go, and then be stuck on your stomach when what you really wanted to do was sit up and play with whatever toy you had worked your way over to! Then last Friday it just "clicked." You sat up five or six times at school and you've been doing it ever since. You are a much happier baby now that you can pretty much get down, move, and get back up to sitting whenever you want. It was pretty funny the other morning to look at you on the baby monitor and see you sitting up in your crib, playing with the mesh bumper! You daddy lowered the crib that very same day. What a big girl you are!

You are also clapping anytime you hear anyone say "Yay!!!" So we say "Yay!!!" a lot because the truth is that baby clapping is awesome. You get the biggest smile on your face every time you clap. And you're pointing, too! You point to people, you point to toys, you point which direction in the house you want to go when I'm carrying you. You are also starting to share with others; when you have a toy or piece of food, you hold it out to me or your daddy, as if inviting us to enjoy it as well. Then we give it back and you hold it out to the other. We do that back and forth, taking turns with your toys, until you decide you'd like to keep it and stick it straight into your mouth.

You wave hello and bye-bye any time you hear those words, with your wave varying between facing you, facing out, and a close-fisted wave that looks like you're revving a motorcycle engine. Most days when I pick you up from school, you rush over to me, and the second you are in my arms, you turn to your teachers and wave "bye bye" to them. It makes us all laugh and makes my heart burst. The sign for "all done" also involves a version of waving hands, and you are just now starting to wave "bye bye" when you are done eating--your way of telling us that you're all done! Such a smart little cookie you are. The sign for "more" involves bringing your hands together, and we're just starting to see the beginning of that, even though it usually turns into clapping. That's close enough to get across your meaning, though!

You are starting to build things and stack things and put things inside other things rather than just being "Ali the Destructor" where all you were interested in was knocking down and dumping out. Last night we were playing with emptying and then filling a bowl, when suddenly you dumped everything out and put the bowl on your head! You then looked at me with your trademark grin, and I couldn't help but laugh. Such a funny girl you are. Speaking of funny, you have also started cracking yourself up! You laugh at pretty much everything now: peek-a-boo and getting tossed in the air and people popping out from behind walls. But you are also starting to laugh at stuff that you do, including when you tell yourself jokes. I'm serious. Many times when we are headed somewhere in the car, you will sit in the backseat and jabber on and on to yourself in your own little language. Every few minutes you will punctuate your monologue with a giggle or chuckle, as if you are the funniest thing you have ever heard. And to be honest, you really ARE the funniest thing I have ever heard! Your talking is so advanced--not only are you starting to really enunciate your words (this morning, your sound for kitty sounded more like "kkk-tay" than your old "kkk-ttt"), but you are mixing your syllables in such a way that I can't even type out what it sounds like! It is definitely your own little language, and I have no doubt that you are going to be chattering nonstop sometime soon.

When I read you your bedtime stories every night, you help me turn the pages of the book. Sometimes you start before I'm done reading the page, as if to tell me, "yeah yeah yeah, I know what happens. Let's keep it moving." Other times you sit and stare at the page, delicately touching the drawings with your sweet little pointing finger, looking up at me as if to say, "Look, Momma! Look at this cool thing on the page!" The world is full of such wonder for you, such discovery. It is amazing to witness.

This month you've started to develop the sweetest little snuggle. Up to this point you've been on the go, always interested in what's happening somewhere else, always energetic, always confident and outgoing. This month, though, you've started snuggling into me, resting your head in the corner of my neck and playing gently with the skin on my arm. I know it's just a phase. I know eventually you are going to outgrow your mom-snuggles and be back to your energetic, confident, go-go-go self . . . so I am relishing every single second of your sweet, sweet snuggles that I get.

You have broken two more teeth this month: the two bottom teeth on either side of your middle bottom teeth. It is so cute to see your sweet toothy smile! And we can tell that your top two middle teeth are on their way in. Four teeth in three weeks . . . oi vey! Luckily you are a champ at teething just like at everything else, and it only seems to bother you for a day or two at best.

I never feel like I have enough time with you, enough time to play, enough time to explore the world, enough time to snuggle into each other. I want you to know that I relish our time together, that every minute with you means more to me than anything ever. And when I kiss you goodnight at the end of the day, I really take that moment to stop and thank you for the best day of my life (every day with you is the best day of my life).

Happy 9 months to my crawling, waving, pointing, jabbering, laughing, snuggling baby girl. What an amazing month it's been.

Love forever and ever,
Mom