News from the White House: Sophia is 9 months!

Sweet Sophia,

    You're getting to be more like a toddler than a tiny baby. Although, I still think you're a baby and think that "baby" covers up to age 2. I don't want you to feel pressured to grow up too fast, and I don't want to coddle you so much that you grow up too slow. For instance, I still hold your bottle. You can hold it, but you like to shake and slosh it around and spill milk everywhere. So it's somewhat convenience on my part too. But, I'd like to think if you were still breastfed I'd be holding your "bottle" for you :)

Oh but in almost every single other area you are Ms. Independent. I wondered if you might be a bit headstrong, being a first born and all. But, I'm told this is just part of normal development. You want to stand even though you can't, you want to feed yourself even though only 10% of your food makes it in your mouth, you want to grab and swipe and hold everything you get near, especially if it's something you shouldn't. I'm not even sure why you have your own toys. You rarely want them. You crawl over to the dog's toy basket 90% of the time. Bottles of all kinds, pens, sunglasses, straws, phones, jewelry and electrical cords are just a few of the things you're keen on. Oh and shoes, you love to chew those, yuck.

    You've said several "words" but I think we can say your first real one is "uh oh". It's the only one you use appropriately (sometimes). I'm not sure why you picked that one. It's cute though! You are mimicking words a lot now. You've tried to say "no no, mama, night night" and today you added "papa". Your dad was so excited!

    We went to your new pediatrician for your well check. You're no longer off the charts for height. You're 28.75 inches and 20.25 pounds. That puts you around 90th percentile for height and 80th percentile for weight. Still a big girl :) Tonight I tried to put a 12 month sleeper on your (open foot style) but it was too short. I got it snapped but you were so cranky in it I changed you back to your onesie.
You now have a total of 7 teeth! Four on top and three on bottom. You also finally started hands and knees crawling, although you only go a few feet at a time. Your pediatrician said we need to cut back your formula and increase your solids. We're working on that. You don't eat very much in the way of solids so I'm not sure we'll completely follow her advice. She was nice but we still miss your old pedi a lot :(

   You had your first fever. You ended up being feverish for a little over 24 hours. The nurse practitioner checked you and said it was likely just something viral. It was really worrisome. You woke up in the middle of the night (which is fairly unusual) and dad checked on your, re-tucked you in and you went back to sleep for about two hours. You woke up crying again and I checked on you. I decided to pick you up to comfort you and I was very taken aback. You were burning up! I called for your dad and the thermometer. Your temp was 100.4, but you felt very hot. You got a tepid bath, sips of water, and Tylenol. But you wouldn't go back to sleep unless I was holding you. So you slept on my chest on the couch for a couple hours. You were so pitiful and it heart mine and papa's hearts so much. And exhausted us all! It was as if the world stopped for a day and we were consumed with you. Mama is also not used to sleep deprivation anymore since you're such a good sleeper. It was hard on us all.

Your 9th month also included a trip to Disney World! It was just for about 8 hours but we had fun. You did really well and took two naps! It was a busy week with family so I think you were pretty tired. Now I know you really can sleep anywhere if you're tired enough. You actually fell asleep in my arms on the Haunted Mansion ride and then slept through walking, talking and two more rides.

Disney day was also your papa's birthday. That night we went out for Hibachi and you ate a decent amount of vegetables and noodles/rice. But- your papa was holding you when they sang to him and brought him a cupcake. He had a bite, then fed me a bite. Usually you explore new foods before eating them. But at lightning speed and in one fluid motion you grabbed a handful of cake and stuffed it in your mouth. We were all very surprised and everyone had a good laugh. I'm telling you, you only want the stuff you aren't supposed to have!

Mama and papa love you so much pretty baby! We couldn't have known how much joy you'd bring.