Nine Months Old!

Happy Nine Months Birthday Audrey!

Notice how in your birthday portrait, you obviously can't sit still? That's the perfect portrait of you this month! You cannot be contained! Not by a chair, not by me and certainly not by your changing table. I admire your motivation! Actually, I take that back....you are a menace! Albeit a lovable one.

You started out the month working on your crawling. It's pretty amazing that you tool around the house, following us around and generally getting yourself into trouble. But that was so last month.

Now, you want to be standing. Probably so you can watch TV, nice and close. What was that new recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics about TV watching and babies? I'm guessing we're violating it.

You are still a very adventurous eater. Lately, you get a little irritated with baby food, you want to have what we're eating. You've had all sorts of food from Mexican to Chinese! It's so fun to watch you explore the world!

Aside from pulling up and standing, you've developed two other very important skills. You've become an expert sock-taker-offer and a very accomplished dancer. Though, honestly the first time it happened (the dancing, not the sock-taking-offing) we weren't quite sure what you were doing. But then again, your dad says that's what people think when he dances too.

That you love music and dancing isn't too surprising. You are a lot like your sister in that way. And like Maddy, you LOVE to swing. We've had a really nice, mild fall so far so you've gotten to do a lot of bonus swinging.

Maddy is still far and away your favorite person. In the evenings, when I'm cooking dinner, she plays a game with you (the rules are nebulous, to say the least!) that involves a lot of running/ crawling up and down the hallway. I love to hear you two laughing together. And every night, when we say goodnight to you, you accept kisses from me and your dad, but your face lights up when you get a kiss from Maddy.

I don't even want to think about what's going to happen when you two figure our how to gang up on us!

I'm a little afraid of what next month will bring...I suspect you'll be swinging from the light fixtures!