Esther at 9 months

esther is officially 9 months old and we honestly can't believe it! people told us it would go fast with the second baby but we didn't realize just how fast it would be. it's really crazy that in less than 3 months, she will already be 1. things started out a little rocky with some extreme fussiness but she has ended up being an incredibly easy and delightful baby! she is easy on the go and will hang out in her stroller with a toy and does the same at home with a blanket and a bunch of toys. she is happiest when she is able to watch anything and everything dottie is doing (and dottie loves it too!) and she has the most adorable little laugh that is contagious and sometimes has us all laughing together just hearing it.

9 MONTH CHECK UP
weight: 16 pounds (10th percentile)
head: 44.7 cm (75th percentile)
height: 26.5" (25th percentile)

esther is a bit of a pipsqueak! at nine months, she is still in 6 month clothing which is wild for us after having dottie who started off so big. of course, taking after her mom and dad (and big sister), she has a pretty big head in comparison to everything else.

COMMUNICATION
from birth, esther has loved babbling and talking to herself. she makes all kinds of cute (and mostly loud) noises that sound like she is really testing the waters on language. she can say "mama" very clearly and says words that sound like and we interpret to be "bye bye", "dot", "dada", and "hi". when she gets excited, she coos or screams with excitement and waves her arms and legs all over the place. she waves, claps, and just recently started pointing at things.

PHYSICAL
esther can pull herself up on her knees easily while holding onto something and just today managed to pull herself up to a standing position. she is still not crawling but manages to get from one place to another without any issues by scooting or pivoting on her bum or army crawling on her belly. very fun to watch...

FOOD
esther never took to pureed foods. in fact, it was down right painful feeding her when she started at 6 months because she just didn't want to be fed from a spoon no matter what she was given. she just closed her mouth and wouldn't allow anything in. we decided to just start giving her finger foods which totally worked and now she pretty much self feeds herself everything (except yogurt!). she loves cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, noodles, avocado, black beans, pretty much any fruit, cheerios of course ... we just cut every thing into pretty small pieces and she picks it up and pops it into her mouth. when she is done, she is done and won't eat anything more. a very stubborn and decisive girl and has been from the get go! because of self feeding herself, her pincher skills have gotten really good and she is able to pick up even the tiniest pieces of food on her tray and pop them right into her mouth.

SLEEP
she goes to sleep at around 7:30 every night, wakes at 3:45 almost to the minute to eat, then wakes for the morning at around 7:30 to 8:00. we are still okay with the 3:45 wake up right now because she is such a pipsqueak that an extra feeding is welcome! she transitioned from 3 naps a day to 2 naps a day about 2 months ago. both of her naps last about 1.5 to 2.5 hours each, just depends on the day. as i wrote before, we worked with a sleep trainer when she was about 14 weeks old and has gone down very easily since then. she eats, gets a big hug, and then is put into her crib while she is still awake. usually she babbles for about 5 minutes and then falls asleep. for the past 2 weeks or so, has preferred being put down by me at night sometimes cries for about 30 seconds when i walk out of the room. we have chalked this up to her getting a little more social and wanting to perhaps stay up and see the action! she still sleeps with her two fingers in her mouth and mainly sleeps on her side or her belly.

NICKNAMES
the only nickname that has stuck is "pants". it started with "fussypants" when she was such a fuss bucket and i dropped the "fussy" when she turned the sweet corner. (seems a little like "blanket" jackson i know...:-) we are assuming this name will not stay with her!

TEETH
still still only has 1 on the bottom!