Clara at 9 Months

1. You are so fun and happy and interactive now! You love to really play with us. You still get a huge kick out of stuff hitting your face. You love it when I hold links in my mouth and you pull them out. You love it when you shake your head side to side and I mimic you. And you love to play peekaboo - you lift something over your face and pull it down when we say, "Where's Clara?" and then you laugh and laugh. It's fantastic.
2. One of your favorite toys is a bucket or bowl or something with blocks or balls or toys in it. You get so focused taking the toys out, putting them back in, banging them together, chewing on them and doing it all over again. You also are starting to get into wooden puzzles because you can do the same thing with them.
3. You have just barely started to wave. It's more come-hither and less beauty-queen but you do move your hand when we tell you to wave bye-bye.
4. You like books, but you don't have a ton of patience for them. You get bored or frustrated if they are long(ish, i.e., more than 10 words on a page), but you will sit still happily for several short stories. You can turn the pages now and lift up any peekaboo flaps which you love to do.
5. It's been warm enough lately that we've started turning on the ceiling fans and you are fascinated! I thought you would be too old to appreciate them, but you do. You still like the mobile in your crib too though so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
6. You still are not crawling, which I like but I think you want to be. You can spin in circles on your bum and when we put you on your tummy you can sorta push up with your arms which just propels you backwards. So I guess that's motion. When you are sitting, you reach and reach and try desperately to get your legs under you but the only time you were successful resulted in a faceplant which you did not appreciate. You bounce on your bum a lot too which we have learned (the hard way - twice!) means you are no longer safe on an elevated surface unsupervised. You are pretty good at standing while holding onto something too but no cruising or pulling up either. You'll get there soon.
7. You still have the funniest hair. Long on top but short on the sides. I really have to do something with it every morning or it just spends the day in your eyes. But it grows in so many different directions that it's hard to make it look normal. Although it always looks cute!


8. You can EAT! You are on all table foods now and feed yourself (yeah!). And you take it seriously. There is no distracting you when you are eating. We can put you in your high chair with food on your tray and can forget about you. You are on a mission and there is no messing around. You even ate an entire hamburger patty and half the bun from McDonald's the other day (not that I would ever give you that!). I think you eat more food than Sophie.
9. You can even use a fork a little bit. If I put food on a fork and try to put it in your mouth, you grab the fork out of my hand and feed yourself. I can't believe you are coordinated enough to do that.
10. You are maybe, sort of, kind of communicating now. It may be total wishful thinking on our part but you sometimes do the sign for more (well, really you just clap but it's close). You also sometimes make a "ca" sound when you see the cat, a "mmmm" sound when you want me, a "da" sound when Daddy's feeding you, and a "hi" sound when we come in the room. Problem is you don't do this every time, or even most of the time so it's hard to say if you are really talking of if you are just getting lucky when you are babbling. Either way, I'll take it. I love hearing all the sweet sounds you make whether or not they mean anything.