9 Months (and 10 days...)

Ok for reals, I know I ask this every month but where does the time go?! This baby BIG girl has 7 teeth, is scooting around furniture like a boss, knows a couple of words, and is full of sass personality. She LOVES music and will bounce around like she was born to dance.

Preview of some of Penny's 9 month pictures courtesy of Jolene K Photography

Weight: 18 lbs 11 oz, 61st percentile

Height: 27.5 in, 46th percentile

Head Circumference: 18.25 in, 97th percentile

Biggest Accomplishment This Month: The last couple of days this month she finally started napping IN HER CRIB! Hallelujah! We still haven't officially packed the swing away (usually her nap spot of choice after someone's arms) but any day now I'll get up the courage.

Biggest Struggle This Month: Keeping her in one spot! She's a mover and a shaker now and does not like to hold still! The biggest struggle with this is that she often can't decide what it is she wants...she wants to be held, but she wants to be exploring. Plus she gets herself into all kinds of mischief!

Mommy's Favorite Moment: She started saying "mama" pretty regularly this month! Sure, it only lasted a few weeks before she got bored with it and seemed to *forget*, but for awhile whenever she would see me she'd start babbling "mama, mama, mama, mama" with a big goofy grin on her face. Melts my heart!

Mommy's Least Favorite Moment: A nasty cold and a double ear infection WHILE cutting her four top teeth and while mommy was also sick. Enough said? She also slipped the other day while trying to pull herself up the other day and bonked her face on the hardwood floor. She's normally pretty chill when it comes to injuries and doesn't react too much (mostly because we don't react too much) but this time she cried pretty hard and when I picked her up her nose started bleeding and I almost started crying with her. 1st big illness and 1st *real* owie this month might possibly have been rougher on me then they were on her!

Daddy's Favorite Moment: Penny has learned to talk with her mouth full of food. She's always done the humming while she eats, but now if she's feeling particularly goofy she will wait for you to give her a spoonful of something and will then start blabbering non-stop. Hilarious! Well, for now....

Daddy's Least Favorite Moment: We went to Fuji steakhouse, one of those hibachi style restaurants, for mommy and Auntie Gillie's birthday the other night. Penny LOVED it and the cook was playing to her the entire time as she ignored her food (which she never does for any reason) and just stared at him. At one point in his "show" however he puts oil all over the grill and then lights it on fire so the whole thing goes up in flames. He's just far enough back that the flames don't get anywhere near you, but the sudden light/noise/heat scarred Penny out of her skin as she scream-cried and practically threw herself out of her highchair to try and get to mommy. Neither of us have ever seen her get really scared by anything (noises and what not don't normally bother her) but the poor thing freaked! Luckily daddy is a quick thinker and grabbed a noodle from her plate and stuck it in her mouth and she was instantly better and started watching the "show" again with no problems.

Nine Month Developmental Milestones According to What to Expect in the First Year (highlighted in green Penny has accomplished, highlighted in red she hasn't yet):

"By nine months, your baby...should be able to:

*work to get a toy that's out of reach

*look for a dropped object

...will probably be able to:

*pull up to standing position from sitting

*creep or crawl 

*get into a sitting position from stomach

*object if you try to take a toy away

*stand holding on to someone or something

*pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger - no more issues with this, she's a pro!

*say "mama" or "dada" indiscriminately

*play peekaboo - she loves putting the curtains over her face and then peeking out at you! She thinks she's pretty clever!

...may possibly be able to:

*play patty-cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye - she even knows when to clap her hands during "When You're Happy and You Know It" and can wave bye-bye after only hearing the word

*walk holding on to furniture (cruise)

*understand "no" (but not always obey it)

...may even be able to:

*play ball (roll ball back to you)

*drink from a cup independently

*pick up a tiny object neatly with tips of thumb and forefinger (keep all dangerous objects out of baby's reach) - peas, cereal, you name it and she can probably pick it up with her pincher grasp

*stand alone momentarily - she does this very rarely (I think she still thinks she needs to be holding on to something for support even though she really doesn't) but she has been doing this since a couple days after her 8 month birthday

*stand alone well

*say "dada" or "mama" discriminately

*say one word other than "mama" or "dada" - she's been saying "la la" in reference to Bella for longer then she's been saying "mama" but this has recently started turning into "ba ba"

*respond to a one-step command with gestures ("Give that to me" with hand out) - she's very good at sharing when you ask "Can I have it?" but she always wants it back right away :-)