9 Month Update

Believe it or not... my Itsy Bitsy is already 9 months old.  I have become fully aware of the fact that time indeed passes too quickly.  Eleanor is quite the busy bee these days.  She is walking!  And as a result, into EVERYTHING!  Mommy gets plenty of exercise now!  We have also mastered our pincer grasps which is cause for constant anxiety as she puts every tiny piece of anything into her mouth.  There have been at least 3 times that Mommy has had to retrieve tiny pieces of carpet, etc. from the back of her throat. Not fun!

On March 8th we visisted Dr. Mays for Eleanor's 9 month appointment.  She weighs 18 lbs. and 7 ozs. and is 28 inches long.  Dr. Mays said that she was in the 40% for her weight and in the 60% for her height.  She was very impressed with her walking and talking.  She told us to focus on getting Eleanor off of the bottle as much and on a sippy cup.  So, we are trying but right now it is like a new toy instead of food. 

9 month info:

• Eleanor loves to talk and has many words in her vocabulary.  Momma, Daddy(or Dada), Bye, No, Dog, Baby and Uh-oh.  Of course, she only says these words randomly and usually not upon request.
• She loves to play peek-a- boo and she will pull her blankie up over her head and lower it herself, smiling the cutest little smile.
• She sleeps about 10 hours a night now. PRAISE THE LORD!  We went through a very rough time right after Eleanor turned 6 months.  All of a sudden she did not want to go to bed and would scream and wake up in the night several times.  I think it was mostly separation anxiety at the time, but then it became habit for her to get up and be comforted by Mommy a little bit.  Although I do enjoy those moments, I knew that it wasn't best for her to maintain that habit.  So, we began the Ferber method.  Yes, we let her cry.  You might not agree with this method, but having such a strong-willed child we knew it was the only option.  I also knew that I did not want to keep up unhealthy habits for Eleanor.  Now, if she wakes up in the night she "self soothes" and goes back to sleep without Mommy or Daddy.  Nice.
• Eleanor is walking all over the place!  She took her first steps at 8 1/2 months.  Just a couple of steps at a time then a fall.  On February 5th she took 4 steps to my mom.  She really kicked it in gear right at 9 months and has been all over the place ever since. 
• We now have 8 teeth!  At 8 months she had only 2 teeth.  Last week, 6 teeth decided to come in at once!  I think the first 2 teeth gave her more pain than these 6 teeth.  She did pretty well, just chewed on her toys constantly.

My Itsy Bitsy is growing so fast.  I can't believe that I have begun planning her first birthday.  Time passess too quickly, but I am enjoying watching her grow and learn.  She just amazes me.