Guess Who's Nine Months Old

9 MONTH STATS: HEIGHT-28 INCHES (75%), WEIGHT-20 POUNDS (75%)

Caroline turned 9 months old this week. This has been a very exciting month! All of a sudden, Caroline is a little sponge and learning so much. Some of the new things she's learned: when asked, can touch her head and tummy, wave hi/bye-bye, give us kisses and "cuddles", give a high-five, kick her legs (when we say "kick,kick,kick"), she dances to music by shaking her head and arms at the same time, and she holds anything that resembles a phone up to her ear (maybe mommy should get off her phone :-)

Caroline is crawling everywhere and pulling up on anything that is her height. Luckily, she hasn't really gotten into anything yet so we've only had to babyproof our electrical outlets so far. I'm sure cabinet doors, etc...are right around the corner. She also LOVES to walk while we hold onto her hands. It's actually become a problem because when we stop, she throws a lovely little tantrum. I really think she would "walk" all day if we would help her. She can walk by herself when holding onto our ottoman which she likes to do until she gets to the corner (she hasn't quite figured out how to "turn corners" yet).

Caroline has dropped her third nap for good and is taking one morning and one afternoon nap. This is nice since we have more time to get out and about now. She still has 4 bottles/day, 3 meals/day, and we've started a lot of new table foods. This scares me to death because I've convinced myself that she's going to choke on everything. Where are my mad speech therapy swallowing skills when I need them?? I KNOW about this swallowing stuff, yet with my own daughter, I turn into a first-time, scared mom (I've been breaking Gerber puffs into thirds, it's just ridiculous). Our pediatrician finally just told me to quit worrying and that Caroline will be fine as long as I don't give her popcorn. Good advice, uh? So I've grabbed the bull by the horns and am giving Caroline little bits of whatever we're eating for meals in addition to the typical mashed fruits/veggies, crackers, cheese, etc... She's doing really well but definitely still prefers baby food. Caroline still doesn't have one tooth, poor dear. I think her gummy grin is adorable but she better grow some teeth at some point because no boy will want to take a girl to the prom who has a gummy grin.

Caroline's favorite toys right now are her baby dolls. She just loves them and will give them kisses constantly (without me telling her to...it's very cute). She also really likes her learning table and toy phone. But she's not as interested in toys these days as she is crawling around and exploring the house. Caroline still seems to have a sweet, sensitive personality but when she doesn't get her way, watch out, there might be a tantrum around the corner. However, she's easily re-directed and never unhappy for long unless she's tired or hungry. This month, our non-snuggler of a baby became a big cuddler. Caroline likes to lay her head in our laps while we're playing with her and lets us tickle her back for a few minutes. She also likes to lay her head on our shoulders and cuddle for a minute before we put her down for naps and bed. We sure do love our little 9 month old!!