Elsa is Nine Months

Yes, our dear little one is nine months old. Well... more like nine-and-a-half months at this point, but pay no attention to my tardiness. I will just use the excuse that I was waiting to post until she went to her nine-month doctor's appointment, which was this last Thursday. The appointment went well. Elsa now weighs 17 pounds, 6 ounces (25th percentile), is 28 inches long (60th percentile), and has a head circumference of 17 inches (25th percentile). The last measurement I have recorded was from back in March when she weighed 14 pounds, 8 ounces (we did not get her length that go around, but she was 26 inches long in February). She is a growing girl, but she has definitely decided to cruise along her new line lower on the charts. She is long and slender, much more like her daddy as a baby. I was long, but fat as fat can be -- in an unbearably cute way, of course. Her round, chubby cheeks keep her looking quite plump enough, though, thank you very much. She is perfect and healthy. She received two injections at the appointment, both of which she has received in the past. I think one was for Hib and the other was DTaP (I really need to start a vaccination chart for her so I can keep all of these straight!). She will begin a round of the polio vaccine at her next appointment, which will be in September after she turns one (gasp). I had Dr. Owen check out her knees, as they seem to pop quite a bit, but she seemed unconcerned and just said we would keep an eye on it. She was more concerned in ruling out that it had anything to do with her hips, but they seemed fine.

She continues to develop at an astonishing rate, as babies are wont to do. We continue to work with her on sign language (and have done so consistently since she was about five or six months old), and she is now doing the sign for "dog" (patting thigh with hand) on a fairly regular basis. On a whole, though, she seems to be much more interested in being vocal using "Elsa speak," than learn the signs, but I continue to demonstrate them anyway. She loves her books, and will look around for them whenever we ask her if she wants to read. Her favorites at this point seem to be Easter Bunny, Big Little, and Goodnight Moon, and Jarrett and I can nearly recite them by heart, which is fairly convenient when Elsa decides to flip the pages at whim. She is coming even closer to crawling, now actually rocking onto her knees, but she usually goes from there to splaying herself out on the floor on her tummy. But now that she is able to do this, she is so much more content staying on her tummy, and even sleeps that way now quite often, regardless of the fact that we still put her down on her back. She is eating more and more foods, and is really becoming a pro at getting finger food into her mouth on her own, her favorite being "O"-shaped cereal. She loves avocado, cheese, and whole wheat bread, and is fairly fond of black beans and scrambled eggs. I still enjoy making food for her, the newest concoction being pureed turnips and pears, which Jarrett and I actually enjoyed in their pre-pureed state. Cooking and pureeing fruits and veggies is a good way to use up those extras in our CSA box from week to week. Elsa's left-front tooth on the top of her mouth has barely broken through just in the past couple of days, so Jarrett and I are hoping to get in her nine-month photo shoot later this afternoon to capture the last of our mostly-toothless grins.

There are so many signs around the house reminding us that our baby is getting older and, thus, more and more less-babyish. Yesterday we put the baby swing and bouncer in the attic. We stored away the mobile. The crib mattress was lowered to the next-to-lowest setting. She has nearly outgrown the exersaucer. Some days I cannot wait for her to crawl, to be mobile, and I almost cringe with anticipation and enthusiasm with all the effort she puts forth at the attempts. Then I realize I will have to worry more about safety hazards and will spend my days chasing a toddler around the house, and I remind myself once again to cherish where she is at this moment. To enjoy my baby while she is just that -- a baby.