9 Months!

My baby girl turned 9 months old on Saturday.  I won't go on about how that's not possible and how I can't believe it and lalala... as I do every month.  I mean, it's obvious that the fact that Eliza is 9 months old is NUTS.  Ha!

What has Eliza been up to this month?

• The BIG news, of course, is that Eliza started crawling at the end of July/beginning of August!  Since then she has explored every cord, stereo button, cabinet and drawer in this house.  She is getting faster at crawling, but still doesn't dart away from me too often; I guess she likes to be by her mama :).  She is also pulling herself up on everything and anything now.  There have been a few 'bonks' lately which have left her a little red and unhappy, but that comes with the territory.

• She waves 'hi' and 'bye', claps, does "so big!", and is learning to blow kisses (the newest in her bag of tricks :).  I told her we are sending her to join the circus soon.

• She started signing "milk"!  She started doing this recently and I couldn't believe my eyes.  I'm still not 100% sure if she is just showing us the sign when someone says milk (imitation...?), or if she truly knows what it means and knows what she'll get when she signs it?  She does sign it spontaneously sometimes, so I nurse her in hopes that she'll see that that means she'll get milk!

• Still only has six teeth (well, I shouldn't say ONLY, that's a lot!). 

• She babbles a lot.  She's very verbal, which people often comment on.  Her favorite sound/word is "Dadadadadadada".  I wish I could know what she means when she says it - because she is definitely saying something!  She also says other sounds "ga", "la", "pa", but her preference is most definitely "da".

• Wearing the same cloth diapers - she hasn't moved up a size in a while.  We're still using mostly one-size AIOs as well as a few size mediums (I've added a few new dipes to our stash recently, and I'm loving them - I got some with snaps, which I now realize is the way to go when you're using OS dipes).  When we use sposies, she's wearing a size 4.

• She is up for the day between 6:15 and 6:30 (though she gave us two mornings of sleeping until SEVEN AM this week, which was heavenly!), and is napping twice a day, once in the morning (usually around 8:30 or 9, depending on what time she wakes up) and once in the afternoon (usually around 1:00 or 1:30).  Each naps lasts about 60-90 minutes on average.

• Bedtime is going well.  We sing, Daddy gives her a bath, and she's usually asleep by 7:30 at the latest (tonight it was 6:45!).  She starts the night out in her crib and sleeps there until the middle of the night sometime when she wakes up to nurse and I bring her into our bed.  I know she'll sleep through the night someday, but for now I am okay with nursing her at night.  I doubt she'll sleep through the night until she is night-weaned, which I don't want to do until she's a bit older.  

• She is just soooo smart.  It's hard to explain... but she is just so with-it, and aware of what's going on; she's focused and very observant of what's going on in her environment.  I can't wait to see her change over the next few months, I think her development just going to take off.  She amazes us every day with what she knows, what she understands, what she can do/"say", etc... 

• We are still nursing, and I am proud to be going strong at 9 months!  It is still Eliza's main source of nutrition.  She definitely eats a good amount of solids each day, but it's not her primary source of calories yet.  Eliza is still a great eater, and is loving every new food we offer her.  We've had a lot of nummy ripe peaches, nectarines and plums lately, all of which she loves.  She's also quite the meat eater; it seems that she prefers chicken and pork over almost anything else we put on her tray.  

We have her 9-month check-up in the morning, so I'll report back then with the details.  I don't know how much she weighs exactly... but I can safely say this: IT'S A LOT.  I have the biceps to prove it.  She is a tall, dense girl just like her daddy was when he was a baby!

**Update:  Eliza weighs 24 lbs 3ozs (99th %ile as always!) and is 29" (92nd %ile) tall!  Oh, and her head circumference is 18"  She's our big girl!!! :-)

Here are some recent pics: