Snapshots at Nine Months

It's hard to believe that we are into the home stretch of the first year. Ava turned nine months old last Saturday. It's hard to believe that she's been with us that long, but also hard to believe that we ever lived without her. She's gotten so much easier, and is doing so many new things. A sampling:

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Morning is our favorite time together. Perhaps I'm projecting. Morning is my favorite with Ava. I usually go and get her, bring her into bed with me, and nurse her. It is the only time of day she will lie still. After she's done eating, she crawls all over me, and rests her head on my chest or on the pillow next to me. I think most people feed their babies solids first thing in the morning, but I'm just not willing to give up that special time.

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For the rest of the day, of course, Ava is on the go. She gets into everything now. Toys only amuse her for so long. Mostly, she likes exploring. Her current favorite places to get into mischief are the recycle bin, the pile of shoes by the door, and the guitar. She also enjoys yanking at any electrical cord she can find.

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She is, for whatever reason, oddly interested in my mouth. If I'm holding her on my hip, she quite often will have her hand stretched above her head, fingers cupped around my bottom teeth. Even more fascinating for her is if I have something in my mouth. When I chew on ice cubes, she loves to stick her little fingers in my mouth and push them around. And the other day, while I was eating some Tostitos, she stood up and tried to pry her way into my mouth, all the while screaming at me. It was like she was a little baby bird, wanting me to feed her my chewed up food. She was pretty upset with me. I couldn't help but laugh.

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She is starting to eat finger foods, but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. I bought her some Gerber puffs. She seems to know what they're for, but she hasn't figured out quite how to chew them yet. Mostly we end up with soggy puffs stuck to her outstretched tongue or her upper lip.

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She has two teeth now, and has bitten me on several occasions, drawing blood once. When I fussed at her, she looked up me with this awful non-expression. It was the kind of expression you would see on the face of a class bully two seconds after he kicked somebody in the shin. "Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?"

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Just today she started shaking her head no. I guess doesn't look so much like she is saying no, just that she is fascinated that she can make her head do such a thing.

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One of Daniel's favorite things to do with Ava is to bounce her up and down on the bed. She giggles and squeals. Today, accidentally bounced her, and she was so excited, I kept going. When I stopped (it actually takes a substantial amount of strength to bounce her up and down), she stood up on her knees and bounced herself up and down. "Keep going, Mom! That's fun!"

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The potty thing is going pretty well. She pretty much tinkles anytime I put her on the potty, and she is doing pretty well with pooping on the potty too. She went twice today, and I cheered her on. She loves praise. Her little face lights up as soon as she goes, because she knows she's done a good thing and mommy will cheer for her. We have such a good baby.

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That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned. I'll try to get some videos up soon.