Elle's nine-month stats

Elle turned nine months old while we were in Colorado, but she had her well-baby appointment on Monday, so I waited to post this until I had her stats. And then, in a matter of 48 hours, she started pulling up and clapping, so then I had to update this (super long) post :) (And now I'm having to re-post this because the Great Blogger Crash of 2011 ate it.)

Weight: 19 pounds (50 percentile)

Height: 28.5 inches (75 percentile)

Head: 46 cm (90 percentile)

And this is where our routine well-baby check history takes a slight detour. Elle's head has always been big. But while the rest of her body's growth has slowed a bit and stayed fairly proportional, her head has been full steam ahead. So because her head is still measuring large, the doctor wants us to come back in about a month and a half for a recheck. If it's still uber large (I imagine Pinky and the Brain proportions when I think about it), Elle will have a head ultrasound just to make sure there's no extra fluid in there.

The plus side is that Elle is on track or ahead on everything developmentally. The doctor said that if she was behind, there would be reason for immediate concern, but since Elle is a freaking genius doing well then we can wait a few weeks. The doctor also noted that Elle's got a very defined bone structure in her skull - Tim has an odd-shaped noggin, so I'm leaning toward the fact that Elle probably just inherited her daddy's big head :) I also contend that if our kids are going to inherit Tim's big head, then HE should be the one going through labor, delivery and recovery from here on out.

Action shot:

This was before she remembered where she was
and she started the frantic hysteria - poor baby!

Current developments include standing more, trying to pull up, clapping, going from tummy to sitting. Elle's doing more "real" crawling - mostly forward, but some backward. She's making new noises and almost sounds like she's carrying on conversations now, with inflections and pauses like the babbles are real words (which to her, they probably are). I think we're *thisclose* to having an actual first word. Of course, on my birthday I kept trying to get her to say "Happy birthday, Mama!" or "Mama." Each time, I got a sly "Dada" or "Da ... da." Little twerp.

The doctor went through a short checklist of things, asking if Elle was crawling, babbling, pooping regularly, etc. She asked if Elle was clapping yet. We told her that she wasn't, but she did a kind of excited hand motion that we figured was her version of clapping. The next morning, though? I was changing Elle after she woke up, and she started to clap. She did it several times during that wakeup time. I excitedly told a sleepy Tim, and although Elle wasn't quite as coordinated in her efforts to replicate the earlier clap, he saw that she *was* clapping. She's been clapping a lot the last three days, and it. is. awesome. Every time we say "Yay" and clap, or clap and say "Yay," Elle claps. Sometimes we clap and say "Yay" because she's clapping. (I told Tim it reminds me of our play group - there are little ripples of clapping and cheering as the kids learn how to clap - and do so for a response. It's really cute to see the kids' milestones recognized by other moms in such an enthusiastic way.)

Elle does this really cute, funny sway that I call her "happy dance." Whenever she eats or hears music, she sways back and forth and just seems so happy. She also likes to pound her palms on tables or trays while she's waiting for food or when she's bored with her food. Not so cool thing she does when she's bored with her food? Deliberately dropping it on the floor. She just stares at me, almost daring me to stop her, and she'll just let it slip from her fingers. Seriously. Don't know where this girl gets her attitude :)

Elle holds court.

Elle likes to make sweeping arm gestures and babble - I call it "holding court." She really seems to "speak" with authority, and it cracks me up when she does it around her toys or toward the cats.

We're dealing with some separation anxiety. She's still pretty easy going and is totally fine if she's a) well-rested, b) not hungry, c) not teething and d) somewhat familiar with you. But if any of these factors are off, there's fussy and crying and frantic "WHERE DID YOU GO COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW" antics. It's hard when she can see Tim or I and still has a meltdown because we're not right. there. with. her. or holding her, and even though she has the ability to travel to us, she refuses.

Current loves include reading, her "Cat" book, trying to roll off the changing table, trying to wiggle out of my arms, playing Peek-a-boo (especially on the bed or while on the changing table), bananas (scarfs them down like they're an endangered species), anything with cheese (tortellini, broccoli in cheese, etc.), pears, sippy cups with straws, shoes, chasing painted toenails, crawling under coffee tables, getting in to anything and everything.

Reading her "Cat" book - a gift from Aunt Marti

Current nicknames include Baby Boo, Boo Boo, Baby Bear and all of the ones from the last eight months.

Recent conversations of note: When I asked Tim if we've had any funny conversations with or about the baby lately, he said, "Yeah, like every day." (Think "Napoleon Dynamite.") Soooo apparently the baby is funny.

Here's a funny story, though - as we got ready to leave for Elle's appointment, Tim strapped Elle in her car seat and she stared at us expectantly. Tim walked down the hall, asking me why the baby could clap her feet but hadn't clapped her hands yet. I adjusted the straps and called to Tim: "You want to know why she's not clapping her hands yet? Come see your daughter." He came to look at her and quickly saw what I had spotted - he'd buckled one of her hands in to the car seat straps. I don't know if Houdini could clap like that.


Current habits include nursing/taking a bottle four or five times a day, sleeping 11-13 hours a night, napping 2-3 times a day for a total of 1.5-3 hours, eating solids twice a day (although since the appointment we've started introducing a third meal of solids - Elle hasn't fought it).