9 Months

Whitney is 9 months old today. Say it with me....... already?!?!? We have had a busy day already today. We went in for lunch and got to spend some time with Daddy today, he even went to her appt with us. She DOES NOT like to lay down so I don't think her measurements were correct, 27 inches. If you remember, three months ago she measured 27.5 inches. Um yeah, totally off. I measured her at home and came up with 28 inches. She weighed in at 18.3lbs or 40% on the growth curve. With all that moving she's burning off the baby weight in addition to her lack of interest in food. She used to be at 70% on the growth chart, but the doctor said it is very common at this age to slim down and it is not a concern.

Her intelligence, or comprehension I should say, is starting to show. She has been saying wa wa for about three weeks and we weren't really sure if she was actually referring to water, but more and more she says wa wa in reference to actual water. She will say wa wa to get a drink from her cup, and this morning I turned on the faucet to get a glass of water and she said wa wa. Also, every time I get her out of her crib we say hello to a little stuffed cat I keep in her crib. This morning I asked she said good morning to kitty cat, and she looked back in her crib directly at the cat. This was exciting to me because it's the first time she has really responded to what I've said and she also correctly said wa wa today too!

She is developing a presonality, which is a polite way of saying she cries and throws tantrums to get what she wants. I'm trying to teach her up and all done to lessen some of the outbursts. She also says mom mom. She does say it in reference to me and knows what it means. Wade is still waiting for da da. She can wave if you wave to her. She is starting to become a little copy cat. She will only eat finger foods, and more and more she has to feed herself. It is challenging coming up with food she can not only pick up herself, but also chew up. She really likes blueberries, yogurt melts and little crunchies. Little crunchies are Gerber's "healthy" cheese puffs. She has also started to get little bits of milk out of my glass. It's starting to grow on her I think. I figured it will be a long process to wean her from breastfeeding so we've started to taste of milk early.

She is pulling up on everything and can somewhat inch across her crib or furniture. I don't know that I would classify her as cruising yet, but she does like to walk with us holding her hands. She throws major tantrums with big tears if we don't want to walk her. Yesterday I left the room and Wade looked up and she was standing at the coffee table and Wade thought I left the room with her just standing there. Even if I had, she can now get down from standing. I figured out she likes massages before bedtime, it's funny how zoned out she gets. Bath time is still one of her favorite to dos. She has started dancing to anything with rhythm.

Her fifth tooth is on it's way down with the sixth hopefully not too far behind. She's getting the two beside the big top teeth and I think they are really bothering her. I've been giving her motrin at night and she can now sleep like 6 hrs straight instead of every few hours. I would like to say her sleep is getting better? She has been sleeping a longer first stretch, sometimes she will eat and go right back down, other times not. Friday night I was up from 10-2 with her. I think I have determined that crying it out does not work for us. It seems to rev her up and wake her up even more than if I would just quietly sit with her in her room. In two nights out of three she has fallen asleep in her crib by herself!!! (kind of) She has woken up as I put her back down down and I have to gently force (can gently force be used together?) her to lay back down and pat her back and shush her and she calms down. Friday night I did this and she was talking when I left the room and then fell asleep, and last night I did this and as I crawled back into bed she started crying out, but less than a minute later she quieted and went to sleep. I figure that after 9 months of nursing her to sleep, any time she falls asleep without nursing is a step in the right direction. Sometimes she doesn't want to nurse to sleep and I have to walk with her.

Anyway, that's enough for now and she's up from her nap....... two short ones today. I think her sleep is adjusting and that is causing night time sleep problems as well. I think we're starting to go down to one longer nap mid day.