Dear Kaitlyn: Nine Months

Dear Kaitlyn,

My sweet girl, you emanate happiness and joy. At this point, you have been alive in the outside world for as long as you lived inside of me. It's so incredible just how much you've grown in that time!

You bring so much laughter to our lives. And as you have grown, your personality has too. We can see so much about what kind of person you will be. You are happy, funny, clever, engaging, and you love to interact with people.

You are an explorer of the world around you, and you love to see, feel, and even taste what you find.

You are really enjoying your classroom, which has a lot of different "centers" in different areas of the room and even outdoor space. You are given so much freedom to explore, and you make the most of it!

You have become much steadier in motion, whether you're crawling, "cruising", or squatting. You can twist, turn, reach, dance, and laugh with grace — most of the time! You love to crawl up to me or Daddy and stand up by pulling on our pant legs. Sometimes you also "speed-crawl" to come and get us, and you giggle the whole way! 

You are very attentive, and you seem to be aware of every noise and motion that happens nearby. When you're watching something that interests you, your eyes get wide and your mouth opens up a little bit. We think it's pretty cute!

You love to laugh, Katy! You have the sweetest giggles, and the three of us have so much fun laughing together. Your sense of humor already seems apparent, as you laugh at funny things that Daddy or I will do or say. Your teachers say that you also laugh when they are making a joke with other teachers — you just seem to be tuned in to what's going on! You've also learned how to "fake laugh", where you will make a fake giggle towards someone to get them to look at you or laugh. It's so funny!

Sleeping: Oh how you are a great sleeper! Like your parents, you seem to really love getting a solid night's sleep, and you rarely wake up in the middle of the night. For the most part, you are usually asleep by 7:30pm, and we wake you up on weekdays around 6:30am. On the weekends, you wake up anywhere between 6:45am and 8am. Usually you wake up as soon as Daddy or I make noise/wake up.

You still nap at home pretty well, but at school you are more distracted by noises and your friends. Your teachers say that it is common for kids your age to start to struggle with naps until you transition into the older infant classroom. There, nap time is more universal and therefore more successful! For now, you are taking about one 30 minute to 1 hour nap...and that's it! This means that you're really tired by the time we pick you up in the evenings.

Eating: You love to eat too! You eat three meals a day — two of them at school. You've been having cereal/fruit for breakfast and cereal/veggie for lunch. In addition, your teachers continue to give you portions of the school lunch, which means you are trying a lot of new flavors and textures at school. You've had things like turkey noodle soup, grilled cheese, turkey sloppy joes, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken marsala, whole wheat french bread pizza, broccoli, peas, green beans, brown rice, pasta primavera, cod, and so on. We love that you are able to try this variety!

In addition to the new foods at daycare, this month you also had scrambled eggs (with a little shredded cheese sometimes), watermelon, strawberries, tuna, broccoli, meatballs (both turkey and beef), and chicken. You prefer to have at least some sort of finger food that you can feed yourself, so even if you're being fed by one of us, we try to keep something on your tray for you to eat on your own. We've started to give you a sippy cup of water to have with dinner as well, but so far this is more so something that you like to gnaw on, bang on your tray, or drop from your highchair to the floor.

Some of your favorites are plain yogurt (sometimes mixed with fruit), avocado, scrambled eggs (with or without cheese), bananas, and meatballs. And every now and then you have a guest feeder! Grandpa has tried lots of goofy things to get your attention.

Stats: At your 9-month check-up, you weighed in at 19 pounds, 13 ounces. And you are 28 inches tall!  You are still in size 3 diapers. As for clothes, you mostly wear 9 months or 6-12 months (for Baby Gap, Old Navy). Your shirts that are 6-12 months still fit but are short in the sleeves. And many of your 6-12 months or 9 months pants are getting short on you too. It is a constant process to weed out clothes from your drawers that have become too small!

Milestones/Firsts: You went to your first Phillies game this month, and you made so many friends! There was a group of girls sitting behind us, and they were laughing and chatting the whole game. You kept standing up backwards in the empty seat next to us, and you would look at the girls and fake laugh right at them ("ha ha ha!") to get their attention. They loved it, which only made you do it more and more!

(You are clapping in the picture above — you're so aware of what is going on!)

This month you took your first trip (with many more to follow) to the park this month. You love the swings! And for us, it's pretty rewarding to push you because we get to hear you giggle! What a sweet sound.

You've started cruising along low surfaces. You're pretty steady on your feet when you're holding on! The coffee table and sofa are a perfect height for you to hold on.

We found a new toy that you really like, and it allows you to stand to play. Not to mention that it plays "beat-boppin" music that makes you dance! Before you start to dance, you usually look at Daddy or me to see if we're boogieing too. Family dance party!

You got your first tooth in (lower center)! It's amazing how much it changes your smile. I can tell that you have another one that will be coming through right next to it soon. We've started brushing your tooth during bath time — for now this just means running a soft toothbrush around your new tooth and rubbing your gums with a damp washcloth. You love your toothbrush! And you hold it and use it correctly.

Likes/Dislikes: I'll say it again: You love to laugh! You laugh at yourself and your friends, teachers, grandparents, Mommy and Daddy, and even strangers. It's like you're on a mission to make people smile, and I love this about you.

You love to play, and you are very tactile. You like to touch and feel everything, and you love pushing buttons. One of your favorite things to hold is the remote control...we have relinquished the remote for our DVD player (which we rarely use) and added it to your toy collection. Of all things!

You like your freedom, and you spend a lot of time on the floor exploring your space. We put up the baby gates this month so that you can explore freely.

You play the silliest games and you crack yourself up. You'll throw your hands in the air and slap them down on the floor and giggle like crazy. You'll fake cough and make yourself laugh — and if someone joins you, you're even more amused! 

You like to read books together, but we rarely get to the end before you pick up the next book to be read. It cracks me up! You love to look at pictures in some of your picture books too. In particular, you seem to recognize pictures of other children and babies, and you point to them and laugh/smile.

We like to say that you really "get into your books"...see below. :)

You love (love!) sitting on Daddy's shoulders, and he loves having you laughing and bouncing and patting his head! When you get especially squirmy, it calms you and makes you more content with sitting still.

You love to play with Daddy, and riding on his shoulders almost always makes you bounce up and down and giggle.

We love you so much, Katy, and we are having the time of our lives watching you grow and learn. You will never know how much joy you bring to us each day. Thank you, little girl!

Dear Kaitlyn: Eight Months

Dear Katy,

You have grown in leaps and bounds this month! You hardly seem like the same baby — and for that matter, you hardly seem like a baby at all! These days you are quite mobile, social, funny, curious, and aware of everything happening around you. I love to be around you, and I knowing that other people enjoy your company so much too!

You love to look at people, smile, interact, and wave. You make friends in Reading Terminal, in the grocery store, on the city street walking in and out of daycare, and in restaurants. Even the toughest can't resist your charm, it seems! You are chatty too, talking to us in your own special way. You love to say our names, and we often have sessions of echoing one another in high-pitched squeals.

You are such a fun kid, and we hear so much from your teachers about how you make them and the other kids smile and laugh all of the time. For that matter, you make us smile all of the time too!

When you get happy or excited, you tend to express it by waving your arms up and down wildly. We love this! When I walk into your classroom to pick you up, this is usually what you greet me with, along with a loud laugh.

Speaking of school, you're still really enjoying yourself! You're all over the place these days, and being in a big classroom allows you to explore and play all day.

You still do a lot of painting, and I love it when you come home with blue paint under your nails or yellow paint between your toes. It just reminds me of how creative you're allowed to be at school!

The theme for this month was definitely movement and exploration. Once you figured out crawling, you no longer wanted to sit still or recline, except for meals or bottles. And even for bottles, you'd sometimes try to sit up while you were drinking. You grab for pretty much everything and want to see (and sometimes taste!) them up close.

Sleeping: You still sleep great at night! For the most part, you go to sleep around 7:30pm. On weekdays, we're still waking you up around 6:30am, and on weekends you usually wake up on your own between 6:45 - 7:15am. You've been struggling a little bit with naps at school, and some days you'll only sleep for 30-45 minutes. We're hoping this trend is temporary!

At home you seem to be napping better, with a shorter nap (sometimes while we're in the car or out) and then a longer one (1-2 hours) in your crib. You've starting doing a very cute thing where you sleep with your bottom in the air. I think you end up there because you want to try to crawl but you're too tired too. At any rate, it's adorable!

Eating: You love to eat, so it's clear that you are ours! You're starting to build a preference for finger foods vs. cereal and pureed fruits and veggies, so I'm trying to offer you those options as much as possible. You continue to have about 5-6 bottles each day, about 4 oz. each. Sometimes 6 oz. if you're really hungry. You now have three meals — cereal/fruit for breakfast at school, cereal/veggie for lunch along with a sampling from the school lunch, and then something for dinner at home. You love (plain) yogurt, banana, avocado, and cantaloupe chunks, waffles, and cottage cheese. You love "puffs" too.

Stats: We aren't sure of your exact measurements, but you're definitely growing because your clothes are getting small/short! You feel heavier too, but we won't know your exact measurements until your 9 month doctors appointment. You are still in size 3 diapers. As far as clothes go, you wear some 6-12 months (Baby Gap) and then mostly 9 or 12 months (Carters).

Milestones/Firsts: Motion! This month you mastered the art of crawling (forward!). You even figured out how to crawl on our hardwood floors at home — you have a special technique for this where you move your hands forward and then slide your legs along instead of moving them one at a time. Sometimes we put down my yoga mats so you can get a little traction. It was really fun being at Grandma & Grandpa's for Easter, since they have a big carpeted room for you to play in. Everything was so soft!

This month you've become quite fond of standing as well, and you "pulled up" for the first time on your own. You love to stand on our laps or lean against something while standing. We love seeing you so steady and strong!

You also started clapping and waving this month, which we find absolutely adorable! It's so fun to have more interaction with you, and you just love it!

You love to wave at people everywhere, so we've enjoyed seeing you interact with others too. Even though you can be a little shy when people get close to you, you love to freely give smiles and wave.

You look pretty cute when you're making raspberry sounds. All of a sudden this month you started doing this, and you really get a kick out of it! Especially when we echo the sounds you're making.

You had your first overnight with Mommy and Daddy when we went to a wedding in Baltimore. Grandma and Grandpa stayed at our house with you, and I think you had a fun time! They had you all over the place, including at the Art Museum, Reading Terminal, and for lots of walks around the neighborhood. It wasn't easy being away from you, though, and I missed you a ton.

You have started to say some words pretty clearly now, like Mama and Dada. We could swear that you say "Hi", although we hear more of the vowel sound than the "h". It's always at the appropriate time though, so we know you're using the word correctly.

Your first tooth is starting to come through, just barely! I'm sure this is not a very fun process for you, but it's exciting to see you reach this milestone. We can't see white yet, but I can feel it right at the surface of your gums. And you are gnawing on everything you can get your hands on as a result.

Grandma hooked up a fun swing for you in her backyard, and you really liked your first time!

Likes/Dislikes: You like so much right now: playing, moving, exploring, standing, laughing, eating, reading, "talking", and your independence. And we like watching you learn and showing you new things.

You really like your frequent Saturday early mornings with Daddy and the time that you get to spend with him while Mommy snoozes for an extra hour. Anytime you hear his voice (whether in the room or on the phone), your eyes light up. And when you hear the front door being unlocked, your ears perk up and you know it's him coming home from work! He makes you laugh all of the time, and you think that his tickly kisses are funny.

You love Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Jack, a lot! You don't quite have the art of petting gently down yet, so he tends to get the hair on his face pulled. For this reason, Jack seems to hide out behind Grandpa when you're in the room! :)

As for dislikes, you're not a huge fan of lying on your back anymore. While you can be distracted, your first instinct is to let out a sort of whimper/cry to let us know that you're not into being pinned down to get dressed or have your diaper changed. We get it, and we try to make you laugh or talk or blow raspberries to "get through it."

Visitors: You got to meet Daddy's friend from home, Tyson, and his girlfriend Britt. You also got to visit with a lot of family on Easter, including Great Grandma (GG)! She was so happy to see you, and you got some classic GG kisses!

All in all, you're so happy, cheerful, and full of joy. There is kindness in your eyes and a sweetness in your voice. You are a ray of sunshine, Katy!