9 Months Old

 

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly.  My baby is 9 months old!  Anna Scott turned 9 months on the 10th of February.  I can already tell I am going to miss this age.  It is a joy to watch her "grow up" a little more every day.  She is always learning something new, and we are having so much fun. 

Here is our 9 month news:  

We had our 9 month appointment on Valentine's Day (updates on her stats later), and the doctor told us that Anna Scott can now start eating what we eat.  A couple of nights ago, we had our first homecooked meal as a family of three.  :)  Of course, she is still eating her baby food, puffs, cereal, cheerios, etc, but it is nice to now have more of a variety when feeding her.  I really can't tell what her favorite is yet.  She is just figuring it all out for now.  I have the best time watching her chew her food.  It takes her forever as she chews, smiles, chews, smiles, and finally swallows (with the help of water from her sippy cup).

Anna Scott still loves bath time!  The yellow rubber duck is her best bath friend, and she doesn't let go of him.  She doesn't care too much about the other toys, but she really doesn't want the yellow duck to swim away.

She loves story time.  I try to read to her some during the day, and we read a bed time story each night.  Our favorite books are "Guess How Much I Love You" and "God Knows All About Me."   For those of you who are familiar with the book "Guess How Much I Love You,"  I read Little Nutbrown Hare's part and Scott reads Big Nutbrown Hare's part.  We love this nightly routine.  :)

Anna Scott flaps her hands together back and forth when she is angry but also when she is happy.  Both are too cute!  What can I say?!  It is her way of showing emotion.  I just tell her to let it all out!  :)

Anna Scott loves her toys.  Her favorite toy right now is her music table.  She is becoming quite the composer!  She also loves her laugh and play puppy.  Boy do those hands start moving when he comes alive!  :)  She knows what the word "jump" means and loves to jump in her jumper (especially when we say "jump jump!")  Her baby doll wears a head band, and Anna Scott takes it off every time she plays with her.  She doesn't want her baby to be uncomfortable.  And I know this isn't really a toy, but Anna Scott loves ceiling fans!!  She is fascinated with them.  I can't get her to look down if there is a fan overhead.

Her "crawl" is too cute.  She will crawl on her hands and knees for about 10 seconds and then she flattens out on her stomach and does a weird worm-like crawl.  I have still not written the date she starts to crawl in her baby book, because I am not sure that I can call it "crawling" yet.  :)

She is standing well with the help of furniture or her music table, and she has made a couple of attempts  to walk while holding our hands, but I think it will be a little while before she takes that first step on her own.

Anna Scott has started waving Hi and Bye, but only when her little heart desires.  I wanted her to wave at her doctor so badly (as if the woman has never seen a 9 month old baby wave), and she refused to lift her little hand.  She is also doing this new move with her hand where she lifts it up and waves it slowly in front of her face.  It is so cute, but I have no idea what she is doing.  When she looks at Hobie, she squeals the same squeal each time, cups her hand, and moves her fingers in the "come here" motion.  Precious!

She has the best time playing with her sweet friends.  We loved celebrating Campbell's first birthday.  She had such a sweet little party!  I don't have pictures of the babies at the party yet, but hopefully I can share them soon.  We had dinner with this cute little boy the week of Valentine's Day. 

Anna Scott and McNeill have had a couple of play dates recently.  They are so cute together.

McNeill teaches Anna Scott so much.  They were crawling around my house this morning.  Mc is a lot faster than Anna Scott, so she would crawl for a little bit and then sit up, turn around, and wait on Anna Scott.  They did this for about 10 minutes.  McNeill being so understanding and patient. 

Anna Scott did not like it when I took her book (that she was chewing) away from her, so she kicked her legs and almost hit McNeill in the face.  I felt so sorry for McNeill.  But without missing a beat, McNeill laughed out loud, leaned back, and threw her foot up in Anna Scott's face!  All I could do is laugh.  We are excited about two more of my friends having baby girls soon.  Oh, the fun we'll have!  Finally, Anna Scott will be the one doing the teaching.  :)

Anna Scott loves to look in the mirror.  After bath time or when I have just finished dressing her, she will look in the mirror and smile the biggest smile.  I have always wondered if she knows she is looking at herself or if she thinks she is smiling at another baby.  Well, we were shopping last week and Anna Scott was holding her paci.  All of a sudden, she reached to the mirror and tried to give the baby (herself) the paci.  So nice of her to share!  :)  I guess that answers my question.

We have always known she loves music, but now, when she hears any music on television, in church, or wherever we may be, she stops all she is doing to listen.  Time stands still.  :)  Her favorite song for us to sing to her is "Jesus Loves Me."  I ordered the Praise Baby dvd set for her.  The praise music is beautiful, and Anna Scott loves to watch the video while listening to the music.  She still loves her Baby Einstein videos (especially the World Music one).

She loves going on stroller rides.  On pretty days, I take her with me to run.  I can run for an hour, and she doesn't move or make a sound.  She just takes it all in.  She really just enjoys being outside.  

Changing her diaper has turned into a wrestling match.  I can barely change her on her changing table any longer.

She still has 4 teeth (two middle top and bottom).  No new ones to speak of right now.  I think she is thankful for the little break.

She has a language all her own.  She will jabber away with such determination, and we can't understand a single word (except dada, of course).

She started "giving five" today.  We hold out our hand and say "give me five" and she gives a low five by patting our hand.  As long as we cheer for her afterwards, she will do it over and over again.

She still fights sleep as hard as she can.  She plays with our face/hair, shakes her head back and forth, laughs out loud, and occasionally pitches a small fit, but when she finally can't fight it anymore, I love to watch her fall asleep.  It is the sweetest time of my day.

My friend Lauren took some wonderful pictures of Anna Scott at 9 months old.  I will post all of them soon, but I wanted to share this one.  It is one of my favorite pictures.  She is lying on my baby blanket, which makes it all the more special.   

That is our 9 month update.  Life gets sweeter every day!