My Nine Month Old

My sweet Lucia Rose is nine months old!  I can say without a doubt that this past month has been filled with milestones and memories.  As my husband likes to say, Lucia is a FUN girl and her little personality is just beginning to shine.  And this month it's become clear that she truly is a "girl" - much more toddler than baby.  

This past month, Lucia has really started slimming down.  She's getting long and lean; I'm sad to see her chunky baby thighs go.  How is she making this transformation?  Well, by moving, moving, moving.  I can set her in the middle of the room and in less than a minute she's crawled to the furniture around the room and pulled herself up.  That's right, she's pulling herself up on everything in sight, furniture, boxes, her crib.  Sometimes all she uses to steady herself is a few fingers on one hand.  She's getting to be quite the daredevil and I imagine that she will be standing on her own quite soon.  It's so strange to think that a month ago, she still hadn't quite gotten the hang of crawling and she couldn't get into a seated position on her own.  Now she crawls at lightning speed, pulls herself up on furniture, lets go, falls down, sits back up, rolls around, giggles, pulls herself back up, in sixty seconds or less.  She's a fireball, that girl!  Another new activity: dancing!  Put on music, and Lulu will start swaying, shaking her bottom and bouncing around.

This months was a huge months for language development.  Lucia now says seven words: hi, dada, dog, mama, ow (when she falls down or bonks herself), wow, and that.  "That" is always accompanied by pointing (or poking).  We attribute this to David, since he's always pointing at objects and asking her "What's that?"  It nearly killed me to hear my baby say "dog" for weeks before she said "mama", but since "mama" is now her favorite word, she's more than made it up to me.  She has associated me with the sign for "milk" for quite a long time now, so it's not as if I've been ignored.  She has two distinct "milk" signs now: the traditional sign means "milk" and the same sign done with both hands very enthusiastically (often accompanied by the word "mama") mean she wants me.  She does the sign for "more" regularly now when she is eating (before it was hit or miss), but hasn't added any new signs this month.  

Now that I told you Lulu's favorite word is "mama", I have to add that her favorite person is Mama!  I think part of this has to do with the fact that I've started working part time this month and she misses me.  She clings to me when I'm home and often will cry when I set her down or when someone else tries to hold her.  My poor husband and parents, they feel so undesired!

Making their debut this month: two new teeth for a total of four.  From what I've read, it's typical for the two front teeth on the bottom to come in first (they did), and then the two front teeth on the top.  Lucia's not typical.  She's getting her front right tooth in on the top and then the one to the right of that.  It looks so goofy but so cute.  Not so cute: her bite packs a real punch now!

Now for the "cuteness" updates: Lucia makes the most adorable "O" mouth all the time.  She often does this when she's pointing at something, when she is startles, when she says "wow" because something is just so new and exciting.  She also has started to get very cuddly.  If you remember, last month I said I missed cuddling with my baby.  She was just too active and couldn't sit still long enough for me to get in any cuddles or love.  In the past few weeks, she's becoming a complete snuggle bug.  In the middle of playing she's lay her head down on my chest or shoulder.  Sometimes it lasts just a moment, sometimes longer.  It is so sweet and reminds me that my baby will always need a little bit of love from mama.  

Cuddling with her is amazing, but my absolute, hands down favorite new addition this month is this: when someone asks Lucia for a kiss, she puts down her head so she can get a kiss on the top of her head.  It never fails: ask her for a kiss, and she'll drop her chin and won't raise it back up again until she's gotten a kiss or two!  I've noticed she'll sometimes drop her head forward without being asked and will wait for you to kiss her.  That's right, my baby found her own way of asking for kisses!  I love my girl!

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