9 Months Old!

Today my sweet girl is 9 months old! Time sure is flying :) I'm already planning her birthday party, but I feel like we just got home last week from the hospital!

I've been scrapping for a new store that is opening soon, so I've been going back through all her old pictures, and I can't believe how little she was! At the time I thought she was so big, but now I realize just how sweet and tiny she was! I'm sure I'll look back at her at 9 months old someday and feel the same way... that's just parenthood.

So 9 months old, in the world for exactly as long as I carried her. I still feel just as close to her. She's so independent and wants to do her own thing most of the time, but if I sit down on the floor with her she almost always crawls into my lap and gives me a hug and a kiss before she toddles off to do something else. She might be independent, but this girl loves her momma :)

My update for 9 months is pretty similar to my 8 months update... her daily schedule is roughly the same with the exception of going on playdates occasionally and going to Lap Sit every Wednesday morning. The only differences between last month and this month are:

~She's walking now... not well, but she's doing it. It just started in earnest about 3 days ago, she just walked halfway across our living room to get a toy, sat down and started playing like it was nothing. Of course I scooped her up to hug and kiss her for bring so precocious, so she registered that it was special. Now if she's feeling motivated enough (ie- me or Tim are a few feet away holding out our hands) she'll hold her little hands out and walk to us. She can only go about 5-10 steps without falling on her best try, but we officially have a toddler!

~She eats more and nurses less. She is eating bigger portions at mealtime, including more of the daily foods we eat. As a consequence Tim and I are tending to eat better since it's easier for me to cook once for everyone, than once for us and once for her. We're eating more steamed veggies, lean meats, etc. She loves pretty much everything, except eggs. I've tried egg yolks for her a few times, and even with a little cheese, she still spits them out. Tim hates eggs too, so she's definitely taking after Daddy with that one! We found out she loves hummus too :) I have lunch with my friend Karen every Thursday, and we had hummus last week, so I gave Kat a tiny piece of pita with Hummus on it, and she gobbled it down and started pounding the table for more. I'm sure the spicier kinds of hummus might not be as well received, but the lightly garlicky kind sure made her happy! Even though she's eating more and nursing less, she's getting clingier when it is nursing time... it's like she knows the end is near and she's holding on for dear life. I've started slowly weaning her, but she likely won't be fully weaned until closer to 1 year old. We're still taking it day by day, and she's not ready yet- for that matter neither am I!

~She is chattering much more, and sometimes she actually means what she says. It's still really hard for people that aren't myself or Tim to understand her, but she makes herself known on lots of things.

She says (and understands)
Dada
Mama (sometimes I'm still NiNi)
Up (Which she says as Upee since I always tell her to say Up, please)
Hi (She's not really occasion specific with this, she'll say it if she notices you looking at her, if you left the room and came back, or just over and over while she waves since she likes it)
Doggy (which she still says as GiGi- or just pats her leg since that's how I taught her to call the Dog)
Kitty (which sounds more like Kee)
BaBa (which is what she says when she's hungry, and no, she's not saying Bottle - sometimes she also makes sucking noises at you when she wants to eat too)
No (she doesn't really get the exact meaning, but she knows I say it when she's doing something I don't want her to do- so she applies it that way- I get told no a lot when I'm changing diapers or she's having a temper tantrum)

My little Imp is growing up! :) Happy 9 months Miss Kat!