You have officially been here with us for as long as you were in my belly! So surreal!
So just what have you been up to this month?
Oh....
You hit your 9 month growth spurt and weigh a whopping 17 lbs. 13 oz. and are 26 1/2 inches long!!!
You are still in size 3 diapers and are wearing 9-12 month clothes -- you've always been right.on.track with the clothes sizes! (Practically perfect in every way, I say!)
And for the FIRST TIME EVER... I can announce you have your very first tooth!! :) I never imagined I would be as excited as I discovered you had indeed cut your first tooth! And the best part was, I found it the morning of my 25th birthday -- best birthday present you could have given me! You love practicing how to use it. The Easter Bunny even brought you your very first toothbrush/toothpaste set -- so stinkin' cute in the different colored pinks!
You have mastered the art of clapping -- you clap all the time, especially when you're happy and you know it - ;) Okay, but seriously, you clap when you like something, are excited about something, or are just wanting to hear your little hands make that cool sound.
Speaking of getting excited... when you get really excited, you do the CUTEST thing. Let's see if I can describe it. You ball up your little hands into little fists and you put your arms straight out in front of you in a locked position. And then you sort of wave them around in little circles while making the funniest scrunched-up face and squealing. It's too precious! My description does not do it justice...
You have learned to make a clicking sound with your tongue just this past week and do it all the time! You know it's cute, too, because you grin so big afterwards. At any given time, you can hear one or all of us "clicking" around this house. It's the new trend.
Ooooh, you've also learned to razz with your mouth and spit flies everywhere! I think you're doing it because of your teething, but it makes such a mess -- especially when you're eating! We try to tell you "NO!" very sternly, but your sweet smile and your repetitive ways of doing it again just can't keep us from laughing (on the inside).
You are doing fanTABulous with your helmet! You wear it like a champ for 23 hours a day. You don't pull or tug at it. We take it off for an hour every day so that we can wash your hair (your poor head gets so sweaty!). As soon as we take it off, your hands go immediately to your hair and you start pulling it. Sometimes, it really hurts you and you will start to cry and I have to explain to you that you're the one pulling your own hair -- silly girl! At the end of the hour, you're starting to be able to tell when we're about to put it on, because I have to put your hair up in an elastic band to keep your long hair from getting between your scalp and the helmet (it just makes you that much hotter). You are starting to fuss a little, but I don't blame you, baby... I wouldn't want to wear it either. I am so proud of you and how well you're handling it!
We still haven't taken you in public with it. I tried, and was even approached by an
You pull up really well by just using my fingers, or by pulling up on my jeans, you're trying to pull up on other objects, furniture, etc. but it's hard to go from the sitting position to pulling up. You're not interested in crawling either. You are finally tolerating being on your stomach a lot better and even can get what you want by doing some pretty impressive stretching and/or rolling. But, you just won't put knee to hand and crawl there.
You fell of the bed for the first
Just tonight, you cruised along the edge of the couch -- it was stunning to see your tiny self moving from one end of the couch to the other by picking up your feet and walking there. I was and always am in awe of you, Lucy!
You are starting to associate your Daddy with "Da-Da." The sweetest thing happened today, and it will forever be a memory mark on my heart: Your Daddy always texts or calls when he's on his way home so we can be waiting for him on the porch when he comes home. He pulled in the driveway. (No reaction). He honked his horn. (No reaction). He got out of his truck -- and you said "Da-Da!" with such excitement and the biggest smile on your face! It was the SWEETEST moment to witness! Now, let's get you to figure out "Mama!" :)
You ADORE bath time! You basically jump up and down every time you hear/see the bathwater running. It's so funny! You have the best time splashing in the water and chewing on your squirt toys. We use L'Oreal Kids Mango-Orange shampoo to help your head not stink so bad (from the helmet), which it does, and it makes it smell so good!!!
You're still loving your friends and teachers at Learning Safari and I am too! We are so happy where you are. I love that when I drop you off in the morning, I never know who I'm going to leave you with because everyone wants to hold you -- and the afternoon girl always comments on how sweet you are and how much she loves your outfits (Note to future Lucy: your Mama can dress you with style!)
You still love riding in the car, but since you're a) starting to be awake longer and b) starting to want to be more mobile you don't love riding in the car as long... :) I think an investment in a DVD player is in our near future.
You love my cell phone -- Well, you love any cell phone really. But especially mine because it plays your favorite videos (two things I want to make sure I never forget): The Duck Song (Parts 1, 2, & 3 -- but mostly just the first one) & Elmo's Song. You have a little Elmo doll that MaMa gave you for Christmas, and you just beam every time you see him! You really love any of the Elmo videos. We haven't had to buy a bigger cable package to get the "kids shows" yet, or start buying any of them on DVD. I just pull up the YouTube app on our BluRay and type in Elmo and we just watch video after video after video of Elmo.
Your Daddy hung your swing on our front porch and you're a fan. Not in love with it, but you really enjoy it! We hung it so you can see the road -- you love to watch the cars drive by. It looks a little ghetto having a bright pink swing hanging crooked (for a better swinging range) on our front porch, but at least people will know there's a
You are starting to LOVE reading -- we read three books at night: You Are My Sunshine (I bought it for you before you were born, because that was my favorite song when I was little -- it was also the first song I ever sang to you the day you were born), A Cuddle for Little Duck, and Goodnight Moon. You're starting to really pay attention and love pretending to eat the "bowl full of mush" when we get to that page. Your nosey-rosey self also loves hearing me "bzzzz" like a bee when we get to the page of Little Duck playing in the meadow. Your head quickly turns and you just stare at me like "Whoa."
Like I said before, you've now been here with us just as long as you were in my belly. And before I typed this I thought to myself which 9 months did I enjoy more? The 9 months where you were all mine, and your kicks and rolls and hiccups were feelings only I could feel. Or the 9 months where I've gotten to see you grow into such a fun little girl with a bubbly-never-meets-a-stranger personality, with the most addicting giggle and smile that I get to share with everybody else but also get to proclaim "She's mine!"
...Yeah, I'd definitely choose the second one. Mama & Daddy love you sweet girl!
Happy Nine Months!
