9 months old

Our little 9-month-old girl is curious and on the move! She is no longer content being held for very long, now that the world is at her fingertips. She wants to explore and move on her own. She readily gives us smiles and giggles and brings so much joy to our lives and hearts. We love, love, love you, Adley Grace!

Some 9-month stats about our sweet girl:

PHYSICAL

• Confidently cruises along the edges of furniture
• Just beginning to stand on her own for brief periods of time
• Learned to crawl up the stairs
• FAST crawler! Especially loves crawling towards "no-no" items like family members' shoes, the moss in our fake tree, any of her brothers' toys or creations, various leftover food crumbs, grass pieces, or choking hazards 
• Enjoys walking behind her push toys in the house

EATING HABITS

• Started finger foods this month and absolutely LOVES to feed herself!
• Tried lots of new finger foods like cheese, blueberries, cantaloupe, cheerios, mushrooms, bread, grapes, zucchini, pasta, turkey, chicken
• Not too interested in pureed food anymore since feeding herself is so much more fun!
• Starting to understand and communicate the signs for "more" and "all done"
• Doing well at drinking from a sippy cup, as long as Mommy or Daddy holds the cup for her

SLEEPING HABITS

• Still consistently wakes up 1-2 times per night
• Prefers to have Mommy nurse her to sleep; doesn't self-soothe very well
• Often takes short naps (30-45 min.) but will occasionally surprise us with a marathon 1 1/2 hour morning nap (yay!)

SOCIAL

• Makes and holds eye contact with others well; people often remark on how social she is
• Makes "ma-ma" and "da-da" noises often but doesn't yet seem to connect these terms to Mommy and Daddy

PLAYTIME

• Tries to pick up every morsel of leftover food from beneath the dinner table to put in her mouth
• Tried and LOVED swinging this month; often giggles whenever she is pushed
• Not very interested in being read to, although she loves playing with lift-the-flap books
• Learned how to open her brothers' boxes of games, Legos, and puzzles (a new level of baby-proofing was in order!)
• Enjoys listening to music and often bounces along
• LOVES playing with Tupperware in the kitchen and making a BIG mess

We love watching you grow and learn each month, sweet girl!

We love you!