9 Months

And...this week has flown by and we blew right past the day Eleanor turned 9 months. Oops! Blogging mom of the year here.

Her appointment isn't until Monday, so late for some reason and I don't know why it was scheduled then, but I won't have stats until then. She seems to have thinned out a bit because she's so active, and I can tell she's long because she is wearing 12 month dresses for the length. Before I had children, I thought I always wanted petite little things, but having this roly poly baby to love on is way more fun.

At 9 months, Eleanor:

-is into everything. EVERYTHING. In a matter of minutes, she'll have destroyed the cords under the computer desk, taken the battery out of the charger for the mouse and either try to eat it or try to smash it, and then has moved onto the toilet paper in the bathroom. She's also learned that cabinets and drawers hide really awesome stuff.
-whatever she gets into ends up in her mouth. She does not have discerning taste. Paper. Books. Cardboard boxes. Roly poly bugs. Toilet cleaning brush. Dried peas below her high chair, because I didn't see them when I was sweeping after dinner. Avery's hair bows. More bugs. Trash from the trashcan. Toilet paper.
-is silent, for the most part. She doesn't talk much and prefers to move about silently, making you always wonder what she's up to. When Avery was silent as a baby/toddler, she was usually off reading a book. Not so with Eleanor.
-she has mastered the high-pitched scream. Goodness.
-does babble a little bit, mostly da-da and ni-ni-ni (usually when she's tired)
-is my little buddy. She follows me around and makes sure that I'm always within view while she's playing. She is such a momma's girl.
-has started separation anxiety. The only way she survives the nursery at Bible study or church is if someone she recognizes holds her the entire time, and even that involves quite a bit of crying. For some reason it's harder for me with Eleanor than it was with Avery. Maybe because Eleanor is a snuggler, and Avery wasn't?
-She cries when she wakes, but then is happy as can be as soon as she gets up. Avery did this too.
-is sleeping from 6:30 pm til sometime after 6 am, with the occasional 4 or 5 am wake-up to eat, and then she goes right back down til 7 when Avery wakes her.
-takes 2-3 naps a day. It varies because some days she takes 3 short naps, while other days she has a couple really great naps. I'd rather have two great naps.
-is eating 3 solid meals a day and nursing 4-5 times.
-loves all of the solid food I put in front of her and scarfs it. This is such a nice change! Cheerios, cheese, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, squash, mango (a favorite), banana, peas, black eyed peas, bread, avocado (not really her favorite), carrots, oatmeal....the list goes on. She doesn't like being spoon-fed as much, so we're phasing out the baby purees and going more with finger foods. I still spoon-feed her at least once a day to make sure she's getting enough in her belly, but it's nice that she's very hands on and really excited about eating.
-loves the sippy cup and is usually found trying to swipe Avery's cup.
-took a bottle finally, last Sunday, while Avery and I were at church. I left her home with Luke so she could finish her nap. I think she was jealous that Grayson got a bottle every day, so she wanted in on that action.
-flaps her arms in excitement.
-dances when I put music on.
-tries to duck away from the water when I rinse her hair.
-has pretty hair! It's growing in so nicely and is like a little cap on her head. I just love it.
-still adores her big sister, and she wants to play with everything that Avery plays with. I'm trying to teach Avery a balance of sharing, and letting her have her own time too.
-scavenges for food off of Avery's plate. Eleanor's solid meal times coordinate with the rest of us, in particular Avery's, so that Avery can eat in peace.
-loves the tabletop activity center (what do you call those things on legs that play music and such? We all have them)
-squeals and flaps her arms when her animal friends pop out from her Busy Poppin' Pals. She can close them, but she hasn't figured out how to open them again.
-LOVES bathtime. She and Avery often bathe together, and Eleanor crawls all over the tub chasing after the toys and then spends the rest of the time chewing on her favorites.

big sis came crashing in for a photo op

And we're quickly moving on...10 months here we come!