Little Miss is 9.5 months now. Actually, don't think about it too hard because you'll realize she is actually going to be 10 months in 8 days. THAT is how bad of a mom I am, just now getting around to her 9 month post. I originally thought I'd try to remember what she was doing at 9 months, but she seriously comes up with new tricks every day, and I don't think I can. So this is an up-to-the-minute update! :)
But first a little Where's Waldo for you:
Does this not kill you? She pulls out this face when we have the camera pointing at her. Has she already learned how to say cheese??? I don't know but it is pretty hilarious. It is the CHEESIEST smile. I laugh so hard I have to wait to take the picture.
It's true. What began as an army crawl just a few weeks ago is now full-fledged crawling. She will still do the army crawl if she really, really wants to get to something fast. (i.e. something forbidden that I haven't put out of reach yet) We have hardwood floors so she will often just army crawl on that, I don't blame her. She is pretty good at wiggling towards wherever she wants to go. Her "real" crawl is so stinking cute. It is still kind of in slow mo. She is very precise in hand-hand-knee-knee. I can hear her coming if I am around a corner. THUMP.... THUMP....THUMP....THUMP... love it!!!!
So, now that Ashlyn is such a pro at getting wherever she wants to go, things have definitely changed. Some of the things we have already had to do are (this list means things she has already gotten into, thus the necessary baby-proofing):
Put baby locks on all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen.
Put up all games, DVDs, and other crap that was in the low cupboards on the entertainment center.
Put Lucy's food and water dishes out of reach whenever Ashlyn's loose (Yay! a little bowl of water to splash my hands in!)
Put up all my cookbooks.
Find hidden places to plug in things with cords.
Anchor the bookcase in our living room to the wall.
And basically, completely clear her room, the living room, and the kitchen of anything on the floor but baby toys!
For a few days this is where Ashlyn would bee-line to every time I set her down. She really seems to like to go into small places. She wouldn't even have any toys or anything back there, she just really liked to sit back behind the table and chairs and grin to herself.
A new thing just in the past 10 days or so has been that not only can she crawl, but she has figured out how to push herself back up to sitting whatever position she is in. She was really pleased with herself when she figured this out. And I admit it is SO cute to see her do it too. She will crawl over to what she wants, then just sit up and sit there and play. Oh how I love it. BUT, there was a downside to this I didn't anticipate. She realized she could do it in her crib, too. So for like 5 days she had really rough naps and sleeping at night, because she would sit up in her crib and then I guess just get all freaked out that she was sitting up and not laying down, and couldn't figure out how to go to sleep from there. It sounds so hilarious but it was a true problem! So, we had a few times of "crying it out" again. And eventually, she would realize just to lay down. Thankfully she is over that now. AND she is finally sleeping on her side---Hallelujah, this may mean the bald spot might start to grow in!!!!!
The cover of my favorite cookbook. Better that than the page with how to make panache frosting!
This is still one of Ashlyn's favorite faces to make! She thinks it's so fun to do this "little smile." I consider it her fake smile because she does a way different one when she's actually excited or laughing. I think this was just a pose for the camera!
Speaking of smiles, Ashlyn has 8 yes EIGHT teeth now! What the heck!?! Right after Thanksgiving she started teething like crazy. First her top 2 "fangs" came in (right when Breaking Dawn came out! no joke!), then after that she was miserable for like a week while those top 2 big ones came in. And right about at the same time 2 more came in on the bottom. They are now starting to grow out a little and it's SO cute! Although it makes me kind of sad because it makes her seem like a big kid! I miss those 2-teeth smiles a little!
Just this past Sunday I had pulled out a baby book to do a little reading on discipline. Yes, I have felt the need to start planting some sort of "seeds." which I think is a big joke because well, she's 9 months old. But she is pretty sassy already. For example, whenever I do something she doesn't want, like lay her down to change her diaper, put her in her high chair or car seat (basically anything that prohibits her FREEDOM lol), she will do this big, dramatic scream/cry. It's hard to explain. But ridiculous. What I have done is just sit calmly and look at her seriously and say once "no." and after a second or two she will stop and just look at me. Then I give her a kiss because I can't help it, she is so cute! So anyway, that is about our disciplinary interactions, judge as you may.
So, back to the story. I was reading in good old "what to expect the first year" and I got sidetracked reading about when babies start crawling and pulling themselves up. I had seen her pull up on stuff a little, but she hadn't ever done it in her crib or anything yet. But I started reading to Collin because it was so funny, I was literally laughing as I read because it said something like, "you might hear some distressed cries from your baby's room when they have first learned to pull up--because they will stand up and then not know how to get back down, so they will cry for you." I thought that was just so hilarious, picturing it, for some reason. And then we started reminiscing on how Ashlyn would probably do that sometime soon, but she hadn't really shown any effort in trying to do that. Well, like HALF AN HOUR later when she woke up from her nap, Collin went in to get her and called for me, and this is what we found!
And look at that little grin. She was SO PROUD. I just die, she is so adorable. So, now she has a good old time standing up all around her crib. I had to pull up the blinds and move the curtains because she can reach them. (We are actually in the process of replacing this crib, which I think I will feel a lot more at peace about leaving her in there alone in a little sturdier of a crib) But it's funny to see what she does. Once she had thrown all her stuffed animals out of the crib. Once the diaper genie was knocked over. Sometimes just her socks will be laying out on the floor. It is funny what surprises I will find when I go in there. And I'm sure it is just beginning!
We had this sitting by the door waiting to be put away in the garage (because she is way more interested in venturing out on her own than being forced to stay in one place), and yesterday I found her (as in, walked away for 2 seconds and this is when I came back) doing this. I moved it over to the carpet and she had a fabulous time just standing there, for like 25 minutes. I was just 2 feet away when she finally fell. And boy was she sad.
I thought this was super funny..... before I had put up all the cookbooks she found this nestled in among them. It's our old budget binder from before we used a computer spreadsheet. As you can see she is diligently poring over the numbers. So funny.
As for other things, Ashlyn continues to be a very happy girl. She is so easy going, and very content to just play on her own or crawl around and explore. She is definitely trying to assert her opinion these days! She still LOVES bath time, and now she likes to stand outside the tub and watch the water fill it up. She has an excited little "yell" she will do constantly while she's watching that. She also yells a lot whenever Lucy is running around crazy, Ashlyn thinks that is just hilarious. She is selectively ticklish--sometimes I can get her laughing so hard, and sometimes she won't even crack a smile! She seems to have an affinity for classical music..... if I am listening to pop or even Christmas music in the car she will get fussy, but as soon as I turn on some Mozart she will quiet down. I am not kidding. She is making sure I get well-cultured, I guess. She is still slow on learning to love solids, although she has come leaps and bounds i nthe last month. She will at least eat 3 solid meals a day, although she is not too keen on anything with too much texture. Just this past week she has started actually trying to eat cheerios, not just spitting them out. MILESTONE! She also really likes little puffs and is really good at picking them up and eating them! It's so fun to watch. She isn't too big on crackers, she would rather just crinkle them up and then get her jollies watching Lucy gobble them up as she drops pieces on the floor. grr. Yes I sweep the floor at least once a day now. :) We have been spending a lot of time together lately, since Collin is gone pretty much all the time now. It can get a little tiring for me, but Ashlyn is such a sweetie the pros by far outweight the cons. We are so lucky to have her in our family.
Lucy hated me so bad because I put that Santa hat on her. I think it smooshed her ears so she couldn't hear, because she was so freaked out. I thought it was hilarious.
Lucy rebelled against the hat after like 10 seconds.
Give me a kiss!
She was simultaneously watching Sesame Street.
Can I play with that, Mom?
And you'll have to guess whose bum it is.
