Between the White Lines: 9 Months Old

My little Maddie Lou is now 9 months old! This month has gone by so slow that I almost feel like she's older than 9 months. She had her well check up yesterday (April 30th) and weighed in at 20lbs 4oz (82nd percentile) and was 28" long (82nd percentile). She's hefty! She's also very healthy and doing great with her development.

She still sleeps great! It's shifted a little since baseball season has started. She's going to bed between 9:30-10 and wakes up at 9:30-10 each morning. On nights where there aren't any games, she's usually ready for bed around 9. She still sleeps until almost 10 on those nights as well. I like this much better, although it makes getting dressed in a timely manner a little more difficult. She takes 2 naps each day. Her morning nap is around 11 and is about an hour. Then she takes a 3 hour nap from 2-5 each day. Sometimes it's a little later, but it's pretty consistent in length.

She eats everything in sight! Girl can put down some food. I have to be careful to proportion out her food so she doesn't eat too much. If she sees it, she's gotta eat it. Even if she sees someone else eat, she has to eat. I have to be mindful of my snacking, which isn't a bad thing! Her favorite food so far seems to be mac n cheese, but she really isn't picky about anything. She isn't allergic to peanut butter, which is great news!

She also loves her sippy cup. If she sees one, she will drink out of it. She actually drank out of a straw today, which surprised me since it took Connor a while to figure that out. So, maybe I'll pick up some more straw cups. She does really well with the take n toss cups, but they ope and spill so easily. When she's done drinking, she just throws her cup. We are working on placing it back down on the table. We haven't quite mastered that one so far.

She is still doing her 3 7 ounce bottles each day. Sometimes she doesn't care when we give them to her and sometimes she does. I usually try to stick to 10, 3, and 8:30, but sometimes she wants them a little earlier. Tonight she wanted her bottle at 8.

Her clothes are all over the place. She wears mostly 6-9 and 6-12 month clothes right now. She can wear some 0-3 month shorts but fits better in 3-6 month shorts. Her waist really isn't that big, but since her thighs are so big she needs the 9 month pants just to go around them. I've tried 6-9 month shorts on her, and they are pretty big. They don't fall off, but 3-6 fit better for now. She is beginning to outgrow 9 month onesies, so the 6-12 month onesies fit better. She can wear 9 month shirts and dresses, but the shirts are beginning to be belly shirts. So I'll probably transition her into 12 month tops soon. All of her summer clothes are 12 month, so I hope these cold nights don't linger much longer.

She is crawling all over the place now. She really likes to follow her big brother around. If he runs down the hall into his room, it's only a matter of minutes before she's crawling in his room too. Sometimes he laughs at her when she follows him but most of the time he doesn't really care. She is also pulling up and cruising on furniture. I've also stood her up and had her balance for a split second a time or two. She has such strong legs.

She also claps a lot. It is so cute! We look at her and say "Maddie, can you clap?!" and she starts clapping and saying "Yaaaaaaay!" Goodness, I forget how cute the little stuff can be. She also has said "bubba" a few times in reference to Connor. It's sweet. She always smiles when he's around and laughs at him all the time (especially when he's in trouble!). She is very good about listening to "no." If she is crawling towards something she isn't allowed to get into (mainly Chipper's water dish and laptop chords), I look at her and say "Maddie. no ma'am!" and she stops, looks at me, and turns around. Occasionally she will get upset, but the most I've had to tell her no is twice before she listened. She is so much easier than her big brother was. I feel like he was in time out all the time before he actually listened.