K&D Odyssey: To Hannah at 9 Months!

Dearest Hannah,

Hooray! We have made it! You have now been outside in the world as long as you were inside of me! This probably feels more like a milestone to me than for you, but let's celebrate anyway!

You are such a big, beautiful, adventurous little lady! Last month I wrote that you were crawling, but now you are a little speed demon! You follow me most everywhere I go, but also like to venture out on your own to explore. Probably your most favorite discovery so far is the pantry. Luckily you don't know what's in all those interesting packages yet! This morning you also discovered what happened when you pulled at the toilet paper hanging on the bathroom wall. If only I found that one as exciting as you did!

Along with the crawling has come you pulling yourself up on things. And you are a speed demon at that too! You prefer to be standing and exploring. Especially in your sister's new dollhouse. It's so cute to see you in there playing with her!

However, my favorite development of yours is your ability to self feed! This has been a long time in the waiting! But your desire to have food in your mouth has finally over-ruled. You still haven't mastered the pincer grasp, so as a result you end up with your entire fist in your mouth trying to eat the food that is buried inside. I think that will be our goal for this next month :). You also continue to love food! Actually, I think that is an understatement. You ADORE food. You never back down from anything we give you. This month you have gotten to try more real solid foods, such as spaghetti, bread, grapes, green beans, apple slices, and broccoli. All were a huge success! And, guess what! You finally have teeth to chew/bite on them with! Your first tooth popped out about a week ago (bottom left) and it is currently getting a friend right next door! Hooray! And, you are an incredible teether! You get a little fussy, but that's about it!

Another goal for this next month, I think, is to encourage you to talk a little more. You enjoy making squeals and grunts, but you don't babble very much. I don't think that this is an area of concern as of yet, but I do hope that it picks up soon.

Your sleep schedule is very particular. You wake up in the morning at about 7:30 (though I wonder if you would sleep later if your sister did), You have your morning nap between 9 and 9:30 and sleep until about 11 am. Then you go down for your afternoon nap at about 1:30 and sleep for about 2 hours usually. However, here is the catch, you are incredibly tired and ready to be in bed by about 7pm for the night. This makes for a lot of challenges when we are out running errands or just want to have some fun in the evening. Sometimes you are flexible and let us do our thing, but other times this makes for a miserable evening for both parties.

Sweet Lady, you have been such a blessing in our home! It's hard to imagine life without you here. I asked your sister the other day if she could remember how things were before she had a sister and she couldn't. You are all we know now. We love having you here and hearing all of your sweet giggles! I love going to get you out of your crib and seeing how crazy your hair has gotten as you slept! It's a wonder how you can even see me past all of your thick brown hair! And I absolutely love how you smile and giggle at me whenever I toss you up in the air or tickle/blow raspberries on your tummy and thighs! You are a beautiful sweet angel! I love you!

Love,
Momma