Can you believe it?  Little Miss Abby is 9 months old!

Abby had her nine-month appointment today, complete with flu shot (for me too!) and blood draw.  She didn’t cry at all with her finger poke; she got a little upset that it took so long to get enough blood and yelled a bit towards the end.  She didn’t even mind her flu shot!  Afterwards, she looked at me like, “Wait, I think I’m supposed to cry about this.  Mommy!!”  And then she was over it.  The doctor pronounced her ‘perfect’ and said she’s ‘doing fabulously.’  Yay Abby!  She continues to be my tiny little girl—the nurse commented that she’s had 2-month old boys weighing more than Abby weighs now!

Nine-Month Stats

Length:  26.5 inches
{15.5 percentile::in line with last check-up}

Weight:  15 lbs., 6 oz.
{3.4 percentile::yay—only 96.6 percent of babies are bigger than Abby now!!}

Head Circumference:  17.25 inches
{42.9 percentile::getting bigger!}

Weight-for-Height:  14.3 percentile::the doctor was very impressed by her growth here.

Developmentally, Abby is doing exactly what she should be doing.  She learned how to wave last week; she spent a whole day at school waving to everyone!  She crawls by scooting and flinging herself forward.  She can get up on her hands and knees, but isn’t quite sure what she should do from there (hence, flinging herself forward!).  She likes to talk and laugh and is very curious about everything that is going on around her.  Her favorite things to do are eat her toys, especially her picnic food; eat actual food; and play with Bones.  She also likes to watch the big kids at school—she likes being in the walker there so she can chase after them…and they can give her rides!

Abby loves food.  She really enjoys feeding herself puffs, yogurt melts, crunchies, and any other finger foods I give her.  She doesn’t have any teeth yet, which limits what I can actually give her in terms of table food.  Last week we got a copy of the school lunch menu and got to select what fruits/veggies Abby can eat from it!  She does not like baby food vegetables other than sweet potatoes and squash anymore, but she likes to eat ‘real’ vegetables.  She wants to eat everything she can get her little hands on, and can eat her weight in food!  She can still eat a container of fruit or fruit/oatmeal in 2 minutes or less.  When she feeds herself, she spends more time eating because it’s so fun!

This week I started putting some 6-9 month clothes on Abby.  They are still big on her, but she doesn’t swim in them.  Since it’s getting cooler and her 9 month clothes are more fall/wintery, I figured I’d give it a shot.  She looks so grown up in her fall clothes!  So for the next few weeks, Abby has twice the wardrobe.  I can still layer her 6 month clothes with long-sleeve onesies and leggings for a while, like I did with her 3 month clothes in the spring.

Abby is a fantastic sleeper:  she goes to bed about 7pm each night and will sleep about 12 hours if given the opportunity.  Earlier this week she let me sleep in until 9:30!  When I went to her room, she was awake, just playing in her crib, completely happy.  She is not terribly impressed with me on mornings I get her up at 6:30; she would rather just be given her pacifier and go back to sleep.  I’ve been putting her to bed without it recently and just giving it to her if she wakes up early.  After our ‘fun’ summer excursions to Fargo and Farmington where she did not appreciate sleeping not at home, we have discovered that she does not like sleeping in the same room as Mommy & Daddy.  If we put her in a separate room when we’re not at home, she goes to bed just fine and sleeps as usual.  {Of course, her wonderful sleeping habits make me nervous that future babies will be horrible sleepers…ack!}