A Walk in the Park

The weather was so beautiful yesterday that we packed Abbie into the stroller and took her for a walk in the park. She got to see a duck and a dog. She was absolutely thrilled by the dog - squealing and reaching out to grab it. After we had past it, she turned around in her seat to get another glimpse, desparately hoping that we would go back for another look.

Nine Moths Old

Abbie is officially 9 months old today. She has been outside as long as she was inside. What a whirlwind it has been. I can't believe how fast she is growing up.

She has just exploded with activity in the last month. Her agility is incredible. She crawls like a champ, pulls herself up on things all the time, and regularly stands on her own for a few seconds at a time. Her fine motor skills seem pretty good too. Her eyesight must be pretty good, as well. If there is a Cheerio on the floor anywhere within a 5 foot radius she'll find it and make a beeline for it (she seems to get some satisfaction from the thrill of the hunt). Of course, we assure her that there are plenty of fresh Cheerios in the world and that she isn't forced to eat the ones on the floor.

She definitely understands lots of words and is even starting to speak (sort of). She has repeatedly looked at Chad and said, "dada." I also think she says "lala." This could be just plain babbling, or she may actually understand that it refers to Lala (her nanny). For the first time today we saw her repeatedly use the sign for milk and then actually want to drink when we handed it to her! Pretty cool.

We are constantly trying to expose her to new things. Earlier this week we repeatedly brought snow in the house for her to play with. She wasn't too interested in it (can't say I blame her). Then today at lunch I was showing her ice cubes. She seemed much more interested in playing with those. We took her out in the lawn today to see if she would crawl through the "grass" (if you've seen our lawn you know why grass is in quotations - it is pretty pathetic looking). She wasn't too happy about that idea. The texture of it must have felt strange on her bare legs.

She is a very social baby and likes to be out in a crowd. She also likes to see the other babies at Kindermusik class. I have watched her closely to see how she stacks up to the other babies her age. She seems to be a bit more in her own world (looking at a toy when all the other babies are watching the teacher). She is also a bit more fearless and bit more aggressive. The other babies just seem to be a bit more passive - letting balls and rattles come to them rather than going after them. Abbie just seems to know what she wants and doesn't hesitate to go after it.

I could probably go on forever with observations, but this is probably enough for now. Needless to say, we think she is pretty cool and is more and more fun every day.

Such a Big Girl

We have finally started dressing Abbie in real clothes, rather than in sleepers all the time. She looks like such a big girl. It's amazing what a difference it makes. Now that we are used to it we actually prefer to see her in an outift. Now I can understand why I seemed to be getting such strange looks from the other mothers at Kindermusik class last week. They must have been wondering what kind of slacker mother would take her 8 month old out in PJs at 11am. :)

Standing Up

Abbie has gotten really good at pulling herself up on things. Now she is getting to a point where she'll let go and just balance without thinking about it. Of course, it makes me incredibly nervous because I know that at any second she will loose her balance and fall over (likely hitting her head on something on the way down), but she seems to be more relaxed and confident about it than I am. Perhaps she has a better sense of her abilities than I do.