9 Months

Sara Kate, you are 9 months old today!! What have you been up to??

- At school, you got moved up to the next room starting in January. You are now in the Pollywog room! The Pollywog room is for the crawlers, and they have more space to move around, some activity centers, and high chairs to eat in. You also now nap in a mini pack n play instead of a crib. When I dropped you off the other day, your teacher was holding who she called 'your best friend.' I said, Sara Kate didn't tell me she had a best friend. Miss Allison said they sit and wave at each other. Aww! When daddy picked you up the other day, you were sitting on the floor with a little boy and he was trying to take your paci. Then you snatched it back. Guess you guys were playing a little game.
- You aren't crawling yet, but you are close.

Somehow you manage to scoot yourself around, and we aren't sure how you do it. We put you down to play with your toys in one spot, and the next thing we know you have moved yourself to a different location. Here's an example...you started out sitting inside the boppy and you just scoot yourself around!

You can get one leg underneath yourself, and if you would get the other underneath you, you would be off!
- You love food!! The only thing we've found that you don't like is the sweet peas I made you. I tried giving you a jar of peas and you like them (that's the only jar food you've had), so it must be the texture of the ones I made. So far you've had butternut squash (love), sweet potatoes (love), zucchini (like...it purees really thin so I mix it with oatmeal and you really like it), green beans (weren't crazy about them by themselves but ate them mixed with a little fruit), sweet peas (don't like homemade, like jarred), cauliflower (liked but it gave you horrible gas), mashed potatoes (like), carrots (really like), apples (love), pears (love), banana (love), blueberries (love), peaches (can't decide if you like them or not...you like them mixed with something else), mango (weren't crazy about at first but really like now), cream corn (like), and dressing (like). I just remembered that I gave you some chicken salad that is 'smashed' (liked it at first but then you weren't crazy about it) and you've had Cool Whip (like). You have started getting organic apple flavored puff's and you love them! You are really good at feeding them to yourself, too! You've had graham crackers, too.

And to celebrate your 9 month birthday, you had pancakes with us this morning for the first time! You loved them!!

- Your schedule is a little something like this (during the week): I wake you up around 6:15 and you nurse, you have a bottle of breast milk 10:30ish, you have lunch, which is usually a fruit and oatmeal noon-ish, you have a bottle of breast milk somewhere between 2:30-3:30, you have dinner when we do between 6:30-7, and that is usually a couple of veggies or a veggie and fruit and water, and you nurse at bedtime, around 9. You also get a snack of puffs at school, and we give you some in the evenings.
- I mentioned you drinking water, and you are drinking water out of a sippy cup!

- You're sleeping in the last month has been totally off. You have been waking up several nights in a row and then sleeping a couple nights in a row. There's no real pattern, except there for a while you were waking up every night between 12:30 and 1:30. I would go rock you back to sleep, and you would sleep the rest of the night. I have to imagine teething and maybe a little separation anxiety has been the reasons, but who knows. On the weekends, you can sleep in until 7:00-8:00. Over Christmas break, you even made it to 8:30 one day!

- Speaking of teething, you got your 2 bottom teeth! The bottom right came through Dec. 29, and the bottom left came through on Jan. 1! We can see them both, too!
- You are loving all the new toys you got for Christmas! We have a couple 'play centers' set up, including your pack n play, and a blanket on the floor. You also still like your activity center, and you like the Jenny Jump-Up! You love books, too!

- I guess we can say that you have officially said your first word, and it is 'dada!' Granted, you don't associated dada with your daddy yet, but Meme said we can call that your first word. In this video, it sounds like you are going between 'baba' and 'dada' and it was taken when you first started saying it. Now we can definitely hear the 'd' sound. I'm certainly working on 'mama', but when we are 'talking,' and I say 'mama,' you look at me and say 'dada.' Nice, sweet pea! :-)

- A couple other things you started doing recently is clapping and waving. You were waving and then you stopped. You've kind of picked it up again.

- We have figured out you are super ticklish...everywhere!!
- Depending on the brand, you are in 6-9 month clothes (like Jumping Bean), and some 9-month clothes (like Carters), even though they are a little big. Baby Gap and Old Navy 6-12 month clothes fit you good. You are in 6 or 9 month jammies.
- You have little bitty feet! Size 2 shoes, which I think are usually 6-9 months, are too big. You even have a pair of 3-6 month shoes that are a little big.
- You are in size 3 diapers.
- Your eyes are just a beautiful blue, and you have quite a bit of super blonde hair. Actually, it sticks up at the crown of your head, and you have enough hair to get bed head in the morning. Ha! You have a perfect, beautiful smile, too, and you are such a happy baby!-This has been such a big month, and you've learned so much! And I cant believe you are 3/4 of a year old! You are such a joy, and we love you so much! We look forward to what new things this next month brings!