only 4

Damn. This is only my fourth post this month. Today is the 20th (already?!??). Not so good, huh?

I don't know what's up with me. I have just not been in a bloggy mood lately. No, that's not true - I've been reading your blogs every day. But me writing on my blog? Eh, not so much.

We are doing fine here - Critter was cranky for several days after her shots, with some messed up naps and nights, but we are back to pretty-much normal now. She continues to be the light of my life, and we have fun every day. Well, the cranky days are less fun...but you get the point. We are on a pretty good routine now, and its nice. But routine does not make for interesting blog writing.

She is loving finger foods, and I now let her feed herself most of the time. She is less keen on having me feed her anyway, so it works out. But there is not much interesting to write about with finger foods - she eats what I eat most of the time, just in smaller pieces. This week included: naan bread, chicken bits, pasta, mac and cheese, veggies, fruits, bits of ground beef. All yum.

Ummm....so yeah. That's about it. Dull, huh? How are you?

Shots (and crinkle paper) suck

The Critter had her 9 month pediatrician appointment this morning. And I really think shots suck. And the Critter thinks the crinkly paper they use on the exam tables sucks too. She cries every time she is put down on it - even just to get her diaper changed. Hates that stuff.

She is now 18 lbs 9 oz, and 27.5 inches tall (long?). 50th percentile both. Head is 46cm (why go metric here? who knows), which is 75th percentile - all of these percentiles are just like she was at her 6 month check up. So she grows well, and consistently. Good job Critter Girl!

She got 3 shots today, including the flu shot. I got mine yesterday, so I know - they hurt! Poor girl, she cried of course, both from having to lie on the crinkle paper and getting the shots. She is napping now, we'll see if she ends up feeling yucky for awhile or if she can sleep it off quickly.

Is there anything worse than submitting your little baby to pain? I think not. I know it is for her benefit, but man, having to hold her down (on evil crinkle paper no less!) so they can hurt her with shots while she cries, ugh. It is the worst.

Quiet rainy day today, so we can both lay low at home, and recover from the trauma.

9 months

Can it be? 9 months old today, my sweet getting-bigger-every-day Critter Girl. It is hard to believe.

This has been an eventful month, maybe the most eventful in your little life so far. You are just growing and blossoming into such a happy, good-natured little girl.

Crawling! Finally, you move. I was seriously thinking I'd be taking you to college with you still lying and rolling on your playmat. But no, you began crawling this month. You are still mostly army crawling, keeping close to the ground. But you do get up on your knees too, it is hard to describe the less-than-graceful (but still functional) way you get around these days.

Finger foods! You love to feed yourself finger foods. And you fully appreciate the wonderful world of puffs. You know the word "puffs" and get very excited when I offer you puffs. But you eat other finger foods too, favorites being shredded cheddar and mango. I've given you large chunks of mango, that I hold on one end, and you take little bites of it with your little teeth. You are very good with those teeth. Which brings us to...

Teeth! You took a break from teething for a few months, after those two super-cute bottoms ones came in, but have made up for it this month. Your top two front teeth came in, and surprisingly, they came in without a ton of fussiness from you. Sure, much more drooling, and the chewing! But you slept well throughout, so Mommy is happy. You also have gotten the two teeth next to those top ones peeking through. So four new teeth in the span of 3 weeks! Good job Critter!! Still not sure why the come in twos, but we have stayed with that pattern for all your teeth so far.

Kissing! You have become a kissing machine! In addition to kissing Mommy and Daddy (which is the most awesome thing in the whole entire world, hands down. Ever.) you now kiss your favorite book friends. And some of your toys (with Mrs. Sock-t-pus being the top of the heap). And you also kissed another baby we had a playdate with, which melted everyone's heart. You are so sweet.

You continue to change and grow into such a happy, sweet girl, my baby. I love you so very much. Happy 9 months!

Movement and motivation

I haven't written here much about the Critter's motor skills, mostly because...well, they were non-existent.

OK, that's not fair, or true, but an athlete my girl is not. You may recall the rolling over strike she went on for 2+ months - at 4 months rolling over a few times, then not doing it again til well into her 6th month. Where she proceeded to then roll every which way, everywhere. In the span of a day.

She's very good at sitting up, has been from 6 months. That skill came very quickly, in the span of a week she went from nothing to tripod to full-on sitting up without support. I was sort of amazed. She was clearly motivated and interested in sitting up - much better vantage point on the world - and so she did it. At least that's how it seemed to me.

But other movement, say crawling? Eh, not so interested, that girl. I've been trying to find something, some toy, some game...something to motivate her to move. Nothing worked. She is classic Type B - mellow, rolls with the flow, and is generally able to entertain herself. If I take away a toy she likes and is playing with and move it across the playmat...eh, she sort of looks at it, thinks about the effort it would take to get over there, decides that's too much work, and then plays with something else closer to her. Or her hands or feet, if Mommy was smart enough to take away all the toys near her.

Until I discovered the motivator of all motivators for kids the world over - the iPhone! Specifically the BabyPlayFace app on the iPhone. OMG - it is baby crack. That Critter Girl - she WANTS her some BabyPlayFace. Bad.

And now she crawls. Seriously. Just like that. She will army crawl her way anywhere if the iPhone is at the end. She just hears the music and will look around like, "Is that BabyPlayFace? Where? I need some of that!" And off she goes.

On to all that babyproofing I thought I'd never need because my child had no interest in moving.

Finger foods

We've started finger foods. Wait, let me amend that - we've started finger foods with success. I have offered her puffs and small bits of soft fruit for awhile now, but in the last week or two, the Critter now wants to play that game.

She thinks finger foods are the coolest thing now.

Her pincer grasp has really developed - maybe that's why she likes finger foods now - so she can really pick up little things well. She still misses her mouth sometimes, or thinks she is putting the food in, but it sticks to her hand and doesn't end up in her mouth (puffs!). And about 1/3 to 1/2 ends up in her lap, but she still loves it. Fun stuff!

She has begun to not like being fed by a spoon, by me. She wants the finger foods! Which is fine for most foods, but things like oatmeal don't translate well to finger food - not without a huge mess (and very little actually in the Critter). I'm still figuring that out - how to get enough food in her while still allowing her to be an independent feeder. I'll sometime sneak in a few spoonfuls as she opens her mouth to feed herself something. She tolerates that fairly well, and I'm speedy!

New finger foods are puffs (she likes the banana Happy Baby the best, but the Plum Organics mango-sweet tater are good too), mild cheddar cheese shreds (shredded cheese is perfect for finger food!), peas, mango, pasta with butter. I'm going to offer her sweet tater, broccoli and fall fruits soon.

Feeding now takes longer for sure, so our schedule has adjusted a bit. But she just loves feeding herself, and it is fun to watch her figure it all out. Such a big girl!

Shopping

I finally did some clothes shopping! Hooray!

Now that my body is settling into its new self (although I don't think my tummy will ever be the same) I needed some new clothes. I have a bunch of stuff coming up that calls for something other than sweatpants - fancy baby shower, anniversary dinner, theater tickets - so I needed dresses.

I spent 3 hours at the store, I must have tried on 40 dresses at least. And I am pleased to report I came home with 3 dresses! Success!

And I got a few casual shirts, good with jeans for more casual date nights and other times I don't want to wear sweatpants (yeah, I wear them a lot in my mommy life). I feel all brand new! I even hit up D.SW and got some new boots to wear with my dresses.

I sorta look hot.

odds and ends

We are still here, enjoying the last few days of summer before the 8 months of winter begin. Lots of park time, swinging and playing on our blanket. Taking walks and ooohing at all the dogs we see (Critter has a thing for dogs).

We have completely recovered from the fall - the Critter much faster than me. But now, a week later, we are both totally fine. No marks on her at all, me with fading bruises. All good.

Exciting this week is that Critter Girl is getting her top two teeth. I'm not sure why her teeth come in pairs, but they do. The top left one broke through Monday, pretty uneventfully. She had been chewing on things more, but wasn't too cranky and slept really well throughout. The right one is almost through, maybe today, and again, she is a chewing machine.

Which brings me back to the woodchuck chew-on-crib-slats issue. I just couldn't fork over like $200 for those wonder bumper things, so I decided to try the breathable bumper first. Which totally didn't work. She is really too old for bumpers it turns out. Pretty much when the kid can sit up on their own, bumpers no longer work, because the kid can just pull them down. Which she did. I put them on while she was playing in her crib, and she immediately showed me that she could pull them down. And maybe off altogether if I gave her enough time. So right off they came, and I'm back at square one.

And you better believe she has chewed some paint off the crib this week, with those 2 teeth coming in. Sigh, if it doesn't kill her it will make her stronger, right? Just say yes.