9 months!

Dear Sophie,

This month has been a little crazy but a lot of fun.  You're still clapping all the time, but now you're also waving "hi" and sometimes "bye"!  You even make a sound that sounds a little like "hi" so the cuteness is almost unbearable.  You're also starting to associate words.  Mama isn't exactly me yet, but you definitely realize it is the thing to say when you are upset, angry, frustrated, or want something.  Although I guess that is me and likely will be for the rest of our lives.  At least I hope that "mama" is who you call for those things.  I won't always give you what you want, but I'll always help somehow.  You're having a little bit of a clingy phase right now too.  In some ways I love it, but it's pretty inconvenient when I have to do something important...like go to the bathroom.  No peeing for mama this month.

"Dada" has been coming out a bit more, but it seems that you actually prefer the word "papa" over "dada".  You don't necessarily say it towards daddy on your own, but when we say it to you, daddy is who you look for.  You are also well aware of what "kitty" is and you are making a sound like "key! key!" when you see Zoey up to no good (which is almost all of the time).  You also say "key!" when you see grandma Linda's dogs.  They are smaller than our cats and much more annoying.

You are pulling yourself up to stand on EVERYTHING.  Sometimes even on nothing, but that is a bit harder.  I thought you were doing this before, but it's got nothing on how much you do it now.  You're thinking about crawling, but mostly you act like crawling is super inconvenient when you can just pull yourself up to stand and take a few steps that way.  I almost wonder if you are going to skip this step altogether.  You've started dancing when music plays on any of your toys.  I use the term "dancing" loosely, but you start rocking your head and hips a little bit and get the cutest little half-smile on your face.

Speaking of smiles...your top two middle teeth and the one to the right of them broke through, bringing you to a total of 5.  3 more look like they will be making an appearance in the near future too.  You're using these teeth very well now.  You eat everything, but the more grown-up the food, the more you like it.  Pulled pork, tofu with teryaki, pasta with pesto sauce, eggs in any form - we might as well hand you a shovel because you can't get them in your mouth fast enough.


Last month you started nodding your head "yes" at the funniest and/or most appropriate times but I somehow forgot to mention it.  At your 9 month doctor appointment with your new pediatrician, as we were discussing things you would nod your head once in awhile as if you were totally following along.  The doctor looked at you and said "You've got mommy and daddy wrapped around your finger, don't ya?" and you (of course) gave a VERY enthusiastic nod "yes".  Smart girl!


This month also brought your very first plane ride.  We headed to California to visit grandma Lori, grandpa Tim, auntie Alexis, and auntie Bailey for a week.  You were pretty fascinated by the people watching at the airport and on the plane.  You were so good and many people told us so.  I don't think any mom will ever get tired of hearing how good their baby was on a plane.  By the time you are reading this stuff I'm writing for you, you will probably have had an experience with a screaming baby on a flight.  They are a dime a dozen.  The flight attendants may have been your biggest fans.  On every flight we sat in one of the first few rows and you would just smile and wave and make cute faces at them constantly.


You were good in California too, for being in a strange new place and a couple time zones off.  Your grandma and grandpa and aunts had lots of fun spending time with you too.  Auntie Alexis wasn't around much, and she's not a big fan of babies, but she promises to be a bit more into you when you can walk and talk and don't poop your pants.  She's 16 years old, so we're all a little glad babies aren't her thing just yet.  Bailey, on the other hand, could hang out with you all day.  Auntie Bailey and grandma Lori also really love shopping for you, so we headed to Babies R Us and you got a bunch of cute new outfits.  Bailey also picked out a big for you that says "My aunt is hot and single" (or something close to that). 


Hopefully they will be able to come visit us in Wisconsin soon.
Til next month, Little Bear.

Love, Mama