Jill's 9th month

OK, OK. So I am the worst blogger in the world! I wish I would just write a little bit every day, but I forget and then I have to try to remember all of the special little things that happened in a month. Here goes my best attempt.

January was a big month for Jill. She got her 2nd (bottom left) and third teeth (top left). As luck would have it, Jill cut both of these teeth on a Mom to Mom morning! For anyone I haven't mentioned it to, Mom to Mom is a mothers' group organized at Free Christian Church. On Wednesday mornings we meet, watch a lecture on Christian parenting, each snacks, and break into groups to talk. I've been going since September and I really enjoy it. Anyway, when Jill cut that second tooth, I stopped by the nursery after the lecture, she was crying, snotty, and warm. She just couldn't get it together! So I brought her with me into the small group time where she immediately got very happy and loud, yelling and making flirty eyes at all the moms.

Another part of Mom to Mom I've enjoyed is watching Jill interact with the other babies in the Cuddle Corner. Being 9 months old (stranger anxiety) Jill hasn't really been digging me leaving her in the nursery. One morning, Jill started fussing when I tried to put her down on a blanket to play. I edged her closer to a toy that a 10 month old named Aiden was playing with. Aiden has been cruising like a champ, using the toys and exersaucers around to move really quickly. Aiden cruised over to Jill and patted her spiky hair. It was so cute and she was enthralled. It was the perfect chance for me to sneak away!

Jill's baths have been much more fun lately. She got a hot pink rubber ducky for Christmas and she loves it. As soon as I put her in the water she makes a mad grab for the ducky. When she gets him she takes both hands and submerges him in the tub until he doesn't come back up. It's like something from a mafia movie. Then she splashes wildly. She has really perfected the art of the splash. She slaps the water with a big flat hand and pushes deep down. The water hits her hard in the face, she gasps in surprise, and then turns and smiles at me with water trickling down her face. It's all a lot of fun save for one dangerous pitfall. The ducky has hole in the bottom and he takes on water. Last week when I was cleaning up after Jill's bath, I thoughtlessly grabbed the ducky and squeezed him as I picked him up. Water poured out of him like a firehose. I got soaked.

Jill isn't crawling yet but she can definitely get around. If there is a toy across the room that she wants, she'll pivot on her belly to line up for the log roll approach. She is also pushing from her belly into a push up position and briefly resting on her knees. She just doesn't get that this is supposed to lead to a forward motion. Whenever she is on her belly reaching forward for something she rolls over. A neat trick, but so 3 months ago! Not what we are looking for!

Jill's speech is coming along, too. She babbles a lot and puts a lot of different pitches and sounds together. She does, ba ba, da da and an occasional ma. I encourage her to make the m sounds. I'll say, "Say 'mmmm', say "mmmma', say 'ma ma.'". She looks at me, concentrates very hard and says, "ba."

Jill's doing pretty well with her eating. I definitely have been very cautious about graduating from purees to chunky foods. In my defense though, she was a preemie! Anyway, now she eats Gerber stage 3s, plus cottage cheese, diced bananas, Cheerios broken in half, and whole peas. I'll try some new veggies and meats next week. Jill still isn't very interested in feeding herself. She totally chills when we give her a bottle and doesn't even try to hold it. She's either lazy or super duper laid back. She's probably laid back like me. Kidding! We all know her dad is the laid back one. :)

Finally, our biggest news was Jill's 9 month well baby check up today. Even though Jill is actually just a couple of days from 10 months we just got in to the pediatrician today. Here are her stats. Jill is 29.25" long and 18 lbs and 1.5 oz. That comes out to the 87th percentile in length and 24th percentile in weight. The 87th percentile in length!! Uncorrected for her prematurity! Not bad for a baby who started out off the charts at 4lbs 11oz. I double checked that with the doctor like three times. He said yes, compared to other 10 month olds she is in the 87th percentile. I wonder what the percentage would have been if we used her corrected age of a little over 8 months? I am raising (and lugging around) a baby giant! Her Aunt Erin will be so pleased and will probably start talking to the coach of the Ohio State women's basketball team right away!