Pearl's Ninth Month
It seems like I feel this way every month, but this nineth month has been so wonderful it might be my favorite month yet! Pearl is such a joy. She's so playful and silly and fun, even though we've both had a long, drawn-out cold for about two weeks between us and there has been much snot and varying degrees of misery in the household.
At the beginning of this month, Pearl started saying Mama. It isn't exactly a joyous sound as she usually says it when she's upset - "mamamamamamama" when she's tired and hungry, or when I leave the room and she crawls after me. She's shown a little seperation anxiety but nothing major. Anyway, I won't deny that I like hearing it. A few days ago we were reading a book (I believe I've probably mentioned here and there that Pearl likes books, but she really, really likes them. She will sit quietly in my lap while we go through her entire basket of books which is about 15 board books - and sitting quietly is not something Pearl does often! She will also look through them by herself longer than she will play with any of her other toys.) and we got to a part that goes, "Baby jumps in mama's lap" and right after I said "mama" she looked up at me and said, "Mama!" It was a very sweet and happy moment for me.
She waved bye-bye to my mother earlier on in the month but that's the only time she's done it. It seems as if she likes to wave "Hi!" though. That's pretty much it as far as signing goes lately. She never has done the potty sign and she does the sign for milk only very rarely. I don't know if I need to implent more so she realizes that it is a regular way of communicating, or what.
As far as pottying goes, we're still doing pretty good. Some days, only a few misses; others, we only catch the after-nap pees, if that.
Imitative fun has really peaked this month and playing games where people alternate doing things with her is a favorite activity - especially the wiggle dance, where she wiggles her little head and body at you, then waits for you to do it back, then she does it again. It is very cute and funny to see. She also has learned to cluck her tongue and likes to do that back and forth with me.
She weighs about nineteen pounds now, but I haven't tried to measure her height recently. Her second tooth popped through - over a month after the first one! So there is a pair of uneven teeth peeking out when she smiles now. Pearl feeds herself like a champ now, usually just by grabbing big chunks of food and gnawing pieces off, then sucking what's left out of her fist, but occasionally using the pincher grasp, too. She's not eating a whole lot of solids but she does eat something a few times a day.
Pearl has really mastered the art of crawling now, and it just is awesome to see her zooming around the house. She learned how to climb down into and up out of the the dining room, though she still bonks her head occasionally. She has free run of theplace other than the bathroom and bedroom, which are kept closed off. She likes cruising and has learned to get down from the standing position with a little whirl and a plop. She has stood for a few seconds but nothing stable or regular yet - which is good, as I am not ready to have her toddling quite yet! She already seems so grown up.
This anniversary of her birth seems extra special, almost sacred. She's existed as long outside of the womb as she did inside. Contemplating that has reminded me of a lot of things about her as a newborn that I don't think I ever wrote about: how her eyebrows were invisible and felt like velvet, the soft lanugo that was still on her upper arms and shoulders... the crimson crescent in her left eye where a blood vessel burst when she was born, how smooth her feet were - I would stroke the soles of her feet and just marvel at how silky they felt, amazed to be touching feet that had never trod anything but the smooth walls of the womb. How she spent so much time dreaming. She goes to bed before we do, and I go and nurse her a few times before settling in for the night. Even though I enjoy my quiet time after she goes down for the night, I don't want to leave her side after she unlatches. I love her so much!
At the beginning of this month, Pearl started saying Mama. It isn't exactly a joyous sound as she usually says it when she's upset - "mamamamamamama" when she's tired and hungry, or when I leave the room and she crawls after me. She's shown a little seperation anxiety but nothing major. Anyway, I won't deny that I like hearing it. A few days ago we were reading a book (I believe I've probably mentioned here and there that Pearl likes books, but she really, really likes them. She will sit quietly in my lap while we go through her entire basket of books which is about 15 board books - and sitting quietly is not something Pearl does often! She will also look through them by herself longer than she will play with any of her other toys.) and we got to a part that goes, "Baby jumps in mama's lap" and right after I said "mama" she looked up at me and said, "Mama!" It was a very sweet and happy moment for me.
She waved bye-bye to my mother earlier on in the month but that's the only time she's done it. It seems as if she likes to wave "Hi!" though. That's pretty much it as far as signing goes lately. She never has done the potty sign and she does the sign for milk only very rarely. I don't know if I need to implent more so she realizes that it is a regular way of communicating, or what.
As far as pottying goes, we're still doing pretty good. Some days, only a few misses; others, we only catch the after-nap pees, if that.
Imitative fun has really peaked this month and playing games where people alternate doing things with her is a favorite activity - especially the wiggle dance, where she wiggles her little head and body at you, then waits for you to do it back, then she does it again. It is very cute and funny to see. She also has learned to cluck her tongue and likes to do that back and forth with me.
She weighs about nineteen pounds now, but I haven't tried to measure her height recently. Her second tooth popped through - over a month after the first one! So there is a pair of uneven teeth peeking out when she smiles now. Pearl feeds herself like a champ now, usually just by grabbing big chunks of food and gnawing pieces off, then sucking what's left out of her fist, but occasionally using the pincher grasp, too. She's not eating a whole lot of solids but she does eat something a few times a day.
Pearl has really mastered the art of crawling now, and it just is awesome to see her zooming around the house. She learned how to climb down into and up out of the the dining room, though she still bonks her head occasionally. She has free run of theplace other than the bathroom and bedroom, which are kept closed off. She likes cruising and has learned to get down from the standing position with a little whirl and a plop. She has stood for a few seconds but nothing stable or regular yet - which is good, as I am not ready to have her toddling quite yet! She already seems so grown up.
This anniversary of her birth seems extra special, almost sacred. She's existed as long outside of the womb as she did inside. Contemplating that has reminded me of a lot of things about her as a newborn that I don't think I ever wrote about: how her eyebrows were invisible and felt like velvet, the soft lanugo that was still on her upper arms and shoulders... the crimson crescent in her left eye where a blood vessel burst when she was born, how smooth her feet were - I would stroke the soles of her feet and just marvel at how silky they felt, amazed to be touching feet that had never trod anything but the smooth walls of the womb. How she spent so much time dreaming. She goes to bed before we do, and I go and nurse her a few times before settling in for the night. Even though I enjoy my quiet time after she goes down for the night, I don't want to leave her side after she unlatches. I love her so much!
posted by fuzzypeach | 1:49 PM
5 Comments:
This was my favorite one thus far. Your photos are great, Pearl just sounds amazing and I loved your little memories of her birth. A perfect match for Julian I must say as he's a book worm himself.
And the Mama thing? Gha, can't wait. So beautiful she looked up at you and said it!!
I've been curiuos about your solids, I feel like I'm dragging my feet w/it. What kinds of foods is she eating these days? Does she do all self feeding? Have you given her things like bread and things you are eating for dinner, stuff like that? I'm not a fan of solids I must say!
Pearl is such a gorgeous happy baby! I cannot believe that she doesn't terrorize your house plants (top picture). Bean is ALL ABOUT the DIRT!
Your description of mamamamama! sounded so much like Bean! Isn't it interesting that mama first stands for comfort, security, milk, and solace?
Happy 9 month birthday little Pearl!
I really enjoyed my babygirl at 9 months too - I remember I couldn't imagine how any other age could be so wonderful, but it just got better and better. You have so much joy ahead of you with Pearl! But I, too, miss my newborn babygirl, and my 9-month-old babygirl, and my 1-year-old babygirl... She's 17 months now and has many words, but mama is still my favorite in her whole vocabulary. ;-)
Can't remember if I've posted here before or just lurked, but fyi I surfed in from Blueberry Pie...
Hi, Susan, I think you have popped in before! You daughter is so pretty - sounds like a very sweet girl.
Christina it's funny that you should say that, because I took that picture yesterday and this morning, she tore a tendril of the viney plant. *sigh* Took a picture of it and it's on flickr:)
Mamac-ta, about food, she really doesn't eat much at all, mostly it is self feeding, what can be self-fed - chunks of avocado, apple, spears of banana... what else... cooked baby carrots cut in half length-ways, and Veggie Booty! She loves that stuff. I reserve it for times when we're eating and I didn't prepare anything for her but want peace at the dinner table;) Food that I feed her bites of is some of my baked potato, with water, mashed up, mashed up sweet potatoes, today she had some of my hash browns (healthy huh). Usually what she has is something I'm already cooking for us... but not exactly off my plate, though we'll probably start with that soon, might as well I guess! She hasn't had bread yet because I'd like to hold off on wheat a bit longer. Maybe I'm over-paranoid about allergies, I dunno.
This is such a beautiful post. I especially loved how you mentioned those little details when she was a newborn. How quickly they go from tiny little babies to toddlers!
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