2) About two seconds after I hit publish on the 6 month post about you, your two bottom teeth sprouted up. Now you have between 2-4 coming in. Your top two and maybe a couple side ones. Pass the Tylenol!
3) You successfully made me look dumb at the doctor's office. After getting diagnosed with an ear infection, you were treated with an antibiotic for 10 days. Soon after, you began pulling at your ears again and would not lay down on your side whatsoever. We went back to the doctor. Your ears were fine. Turns out you just wanted to start sleeping on your tummy and found your ears to be interesting. Thanks for letting me know.
4) At night you sleep with a lovey. It's a pink taggie/blankie with a bird on it. Every night I tuck it under your arm and you drift off to dreamland. I will jinx myself by typing this, but you are the best at falling asleep on your own. The downside of that is you don't like to be cuddled before bed or at nap time. I do miss that, but am not complaining!
5) We're still breastfeeding. Hoping to make it all the way to a year :)
6) As for food, you love everything, probably because you're the one putting it in your mouth! Baby-led weaning is my favorite thing ever. Basically, the concept is that you eat little pieces of what we eat, rather than messy, pureed baby food. I'll write in more detail at another time, but for now, I love watching you eat everything from beans to blueberries.
7) You have a little vein line that goes across the bridge of your nose. At first we thought it was a bruise, but you are just really pale so we can see right through you. Just one of those things that makes you you.
8) As far as crawling, you're just not that into it. You sit really well, can transfer to a crawl position and can reach for things you want. But as far as putting one chubby leg in front of the other, it's a no go at the nine-month mark.
9) Your schedules is as follows: wake up and eat at 5:30, fall asleep for 30 minutes to an hour afterward, eat breakfast around 8 or 8:30, take a nap, breastfeed around 10:30, eat lunch a little bit later, bottle (if it's a weekday) around 2:45/3, dinner around 5:30, bath afterward, playtime, books/attempt to read books, nightcap around 6:45 and bed by 7. There's lots of cuddles and coos in between.
10) You still love your binkies. Unfortunately so does Howie, who chewed up 5 out of 7 I bought less than two weeks ago. Maybe he can just wean you naturally when it's time.
11) Speaking of Howie, you LOVE him. We love to squeak his toy and then hand it to you. You get so excited when he comes to grab it out of your hands. And you're always trying to slip him your food. If we ever get the house picked up, we're going to film the next Cheerios commercial.
12) Sisterly love is on again off again. Most days Faith shows you patience and kindness. For example, when we went to take Valentine's pictures and you fell asleep in the car on the way there, she told me she didn't want to listen to any music, so we could keep the car quiet for you. Before you say "awww," the other day she took something out of your hand, which made you fall down and cry. She then proceeded to do nothing to help you up. Not so "awwww." p.s. I think Faith will still remember the time I yelled at her for the above when she's 16. Not my finest parenting.
13) As for words, you prefer grunts and screams, but can say dada, mama, baba, etc., just not in context. Dad and I swore you were going to say "verde" the other day after listening to one of your toys in Spanish mode, but you stopped after "ver."
14) You love to wave bye bye, but instead of opening and closing your hand, you like to flop your hand at the wrist, back and forth. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever until you started pointing the other day. That's even cuter.
15. While you're not loving learning to crawl, you like to stand. You can stand with support for a good amount of time before plopping down for a break.
16. You are a tough baby to read to. Either you want to eat the book or you just try to close it on my hand. I keep trying to get you to lay back and snuggle, but you are always trying to wriggle away. Get back here, young lady!
17. If I had to describe you at the tender age of 9 months, I'd say laid-back, scrunchy-smiley and mama's girl.
18. You're still a lightweight in the babyfat category. If I dunk you in the tub before your checkup, maybe you'll weigh 16 pounds with your clothes on.
20) Your favorite toys are anything that Faith is playing with, all our electronics and Howie's tail.
21) I know you're not supposed to watch TV yet, but I've tried introducing you to Little Einsteins while I cooked dinner and you didn't really notice or care. Oh well. Faith forces us all to watch Bubble Guppies anyway. Bubble bubble bubble, guppy guppy guppy!
22) Unfortunately you're on your third ear infection and now have a cough and a runny nose. Seeing you sick sucks, but you're much tougher than your dad ;)
23) I wish I had better professional pictures of you. Every time I try, it ends up that you're hungry or tired when the appointment rolls around. So don't feel like you were neglected as the second child. It's just a timing thing. For your first birthday, I'll schedule 10 appointments if I have to
Bonus:
This letter is a reflection of my thoughts about you, but you have so many people that love and care about you, including your grandparents, your teachers at daycare and even those random people at the grocery store, whose smiles you help create. You're special, Gab. Never forget it.
