9 months: mobility and opinions

Our smiley girl is 9 months old today! 

It's strange to me how 9 months of pregnancy seemed like an eternity, but 9 months of baby continues to move faster than the speed of light! I bumped in to an old Starbucks friend at JoAnn Fabric last night, who I hadn't seen in 9 months. She reminded me that the last time we spoke (other than Facebook) was also at JoAnn's and it was the day before I had Kendall. It felt like just yesterday. 

Kendall's personality continues to crack us up! She is so interactive. She loves to play peek-a-boo and she'll even initiate a game when we aren't around to play. She thinks it funny to mimic the faces and sounds we make and then totally bust up laughing. This month we began to see another side to her personality as she started to really assert her opinions.  Foods she loves or hates seem to completely switch daily. One day she'll eat an entire banana and the next gag at the sight of it.  For a few days she chose to not eat a thing (then she got her tooth). Rice puffs are a favorite. If we want her to eat anything else we can't offer puffs until the end, because when given the choice she pushes all carrots, apples, peas, you name it, off her tray, gathers up the puffs and starts shoveling them in her mouth. When she decides she is done eating or doesn't want something she scrunches up her nose and mouth and shakes her head "no." She's also developed some preferences with toys, too.  She likes having a small soft blanky to hold while she falls asleep, and gravitates toward her stacking cups and books while she plays by herself on the floor. Her favorite book is Touch and Feel Kittens. She'll flap her arms wildly when she discovers it and flips right to her two favorite pages (the fur and the straw basket). Every book we read that has realistic pictures in it she grabs and pets hoping they will be textured. She is getting seriously mobile! She actually started crawling forward this week (YIKES!). Her biggest motivators are electric cords and magazines (really, why do we buy toys for kids!?). In fact, magazines has become a favorite of hers in general. She likes to take them all off the shelf and push/slide them around. Then she'll flip through the pages before she decided which one to rip out and eat! With her mobility comes additional vacuuming and more vigilant parenting (soon enough we'll be chasing her!).

It's been a fun month with many big milestones and notables.
*First tooth (it's actually visible now)
*Slow army crawl FORWARD (on occasion)
*Standing (aka dancing) without help, and even taking a few cruising steps.
*Clapping (in her own unique way---I'll post a video)
*She is still sleeping through the night consistently (7pm-7am most nights)
*Saying "Mama" (at everything, but often in her high chair---not sure what that means!)
*Several time's she's reached for the puffs container and said "mo" (similar, yet distinctly different than her "mama."
* Pointing (in general)  and inspecting things with just one finger.
* Meeting baby Ian on our trip to Utah (not taking a nap the entire 5 hours of traveling!)
*Sitting like a big girl in the shopping cart (kicks her legs and squeals with delight the whole time!).
*First bruise from a face plant (hazards of moving around)

Kendall and I participated in the first annual YL fun run this morning.  Hence the track suit in pictures below! She had her running shoes on earlier, too.

Dolly pictures!

Can you see my tooth now?

Here I am brushing it!

My first bruise :(

I love standing!

My  Daddy and Mommy are so silly!

Sometimes I read my favorite book while I wait for Mommy or Daddy to get me up from my nap.

Practicing my Yoga.

9 months in and 9 months out!