Maddie Kate is 9 Months Old!

Maddie Kate, you are 9 months old and you're so much fun!  You're doing so many new, fun things and you are really starting to show us your personality more everyday.  You are a persistent little girl!  You learn so fast and you rarely give up.  If you want to do something you keep trying until you figure it out.  You have the sweetest smile and the prettiest blue eyes!  You're starting to babble more and more and just like your brother, you love to talk!  This morning you wanted to chat around 2am.  While it's cute, your timing could use improvement.  Sleep is still a lost art form for you.  We have had to resort to letting you "cry it out" and the first night, several weeks ago, you cried and jumped up and down in your crib for oh, about an hour.  It was dreadful for all involved but you finally gave in and slept all night.  You got progressively better the first week but you still don't sleep all night on a consistent basis.  We know you will eventually.  In fact, right now, for the first time in days you're in your bed fast asleep and you haven't fussed much at all.  Yay for progress!  Keep it up girlfriend!

You continue to blow past all the milestones for your age and I'm actually surprised you're not walking yet.  You cruise around furniture and can get where you want to go quickly...you're especially quick after we've told you no when you're heading in a direction we don't want you to go...mainly the bathroom.  You look back and laugh at us when we tell you no and then crawl head down as fast as you can!  Again with the persistence!

You have 8 teeth and you're a great eater!  You have the pincer grasp down and can pick up your food very well.  You've just in the last couple of weeks tried turkey, ham, chicken, cooked carrots, peas, banana, toast, cereal bars, arrowroot cookies, yogurt melts and a few other things.  You still like puffs and mum mums.  You enjoy feeding yourself and I have a feeling the baby food I recently stocked up on will be going to the shelter to share with the babies there.  I hope you keep up the good work with your eating habits!  You're shaping up to be as good an eater as your brother and we are thankful for that.  We definitely want healthy kiddos!  You already enjoy drinking from a sippy cup and we have to keep your brother's out of reach because you're quick to grab his!  This week we've started the transition to a new formula. I hope you tolerate it well!  It will save mommy and daddy some cashola and we want your little belly to be ok with milk when it's time for that.

You had your 9 month checkup last week and here are your stats:

You weigh 18 pounds 7 ounces (40%)
You are 28 inches long (62%)
Your head circumference is 17 1/4 cm  (42%)

You wear a size 3 diaper, 6-12 and 9 month clothes and you don't wear shoes yet so I don't know your shoe size.  You love shoes - you especially love to chew on them.  Soon, we'll get you a couple pairs to wear and teach you that they aren't for chewing.

You love bath time, you play pretty well by yourself and you still aren't afraid to tell your brother when you're angry with him for taking toys away!  You love to play peek-a-boo and you've been clapping your hands for weeks now!  You clap in response to us asking you to play pat-a-cake and just like the video in my last post shows, you love for me to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It".

You wave hi and goodbye and you say hi and bye bye too!  You love to play with your toy phone!  You hold it up to your ear and say hi!

MK, you are such a joy.  We love you so much and have enjoyed watching you grow and change.