9 months

Dear Cassidy,

Thursday you turned 9 months old. Sorry we're a little late here, busy, busy, busy! I had to reread your 8 month letter just so I could remember what's new for this month. You change daily, it's hard to keep up!

There have been a few notable changes in your appearance this month. The first is that your hair is really starting to fill in and get much longer. Your "wings" are back and almost reach your shoulders. We also need to either clip your bangs or tie it up in a ponytail each day or it just hangs in your eyes. For the first time in your life, you're actually wearing the clothing designed for your age! You're starting to get quite thin with a tiny little butt and waist. Your thighs are still nice and chunky, but a little less rolly polly. Your face is also thinning and your big baby cheeks are fading. You have eight teeth, four on the top and four on the bottom. You look less like a baby and more like a little lady every day!

You love to stand and make sure everyone takes notice of your magical feat. Crawling is merely a mode of transportation to get from point A to point B, but you'd much rather be standing. You can stand alone for minutes at a time and even squat to pick things up and stand back up. Even though you haven't taken any actual independent steps yet, your radius of exploration grows daily and we're constantly having to get up and chase you around. You always manage to find the most breakable or dangerous item in the room and will continue to try to play with it over and over and over again. You still don't understand "no" or at least you choose not to.

Eating has done a 180 this month. We're constantly amazed just how much you'll eat in one sitting. Finger foods are still your favorite but you also love yogurt and any kind of cheese. Since going back to daycare we've added a third meal to the day and this means you are starting to nurse less often. Although, the past two days you've wanted to nurse all night long and we think you may be going through a growth spurt.

You love to wave, clap, flap your arms, and shake your fists in the air. You'll even clap when we say it without even showing you what we mean. That's pretty cool. We're still working on high fives and blowing kisses, but you're figuring it out.

Another new thing is your ability to play independently. You love books. On more than one occasion you've played with one book for over 45 minutes. You bend the covers and pages back and forth, gnaw on the pages, and laugh at the pictures. Reading apparently requires very active participation. Your favorite books are the ones with things you can feel and flaps you can lift.

Daycare is going pretty well so far this year. There are three other babies at the moment, another nine month old and two fourteen month olds. Linda (the daycare lady) says you all play together very well and it's so cute to see. Naps are hit or miss, I think you just don't want to miss out on all the fun!

Speaking of sleeping... We officially have no idea what we're doing. We tried using the Ferber Method in August and it worked, sort of, but you're a very stubborn little girl. I believe we didn't have more success due to the fact you are not yet weaned from the nighttime feedings. You're truly hungry and nurse for at least ten minutes every time. It's usually only once a night, but the past two nights you were up four times! Ugh. I'm not sure if I'm willing to completely cut you off at night because I've been dealing with supply issues... But, we have also had some very successful steps forward, like a solid nighttime routine at 7:00 pm every night: bath, quite play in your room, a bedtime story, and one last nursing and you'll go right to sleep. Your naps are also more consistent, around 9:00 am and 1:00 pm and usually last an hour and a half (at least when you're not in daycare).

Anything else? We have your nine month appointment this Thursday, so I'll update your stats then. Thank you for becoming part of our family little girl, we love you!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Oh! Just so you truly understand how impossible it is to take these monthly pictures...