Nine Months

Statistics

Weight: 21 lbs
Height: 28.7 inches

Delphine has now been out longer than she was in, and she seems to be taking well to the outside world.

She is growing famously, but sloping gradually towards the 75th percentile (she started off at the 95th). She's still proportionate, although more a chubby baby than a skinny baby. She's very strong and I'm pretty sure she'll be walking by her first birthday. She has been crawling for a few weeks now, and she loves to stand up, holding on to a table or chair, whenever she can get away with it.

She vocalizes with consonants ("blah, blah" or "dah dah") sometimes, and has just mastered the fine art of the raspberry. I don't think she'll be talking particularly early.

She still only has the two teeth on the bottom, although Blake thinks he might have spotted one on the top today. The first two came in in November, so the next batch is overdue, but me and my nipples are okay with that.

She's still nursing a couple of times a day, in the afternoon and evening, and through the night. In addition, she's eating pretty much everything except the big choking and allergy hazards. I just started her on (cows') milk yesterday, but she still hasn't really figured out either a bottle or a sippy cup, so most of it ends up on her shirt. I'm hoping once she figures out how to drink milk she'll ease off even more on the nursing and maybe I'll actually ovulate again! That would be good.

I took her to Florida last week to visit my in-laws, and we had a great time, although it was far from the vacation I had imagined. I thought she was over separation anxiety, but when we were in Florida she didn't want to be in anyone's arms but mine for the first three days. I think that's reasonable; we were in a completely new environment, I can see why she would want to experience it from a place of known safety. Anyway, by day four she happily went off to visit neighbours with my father-in-law, and on day five she played in the pool with my mother-in-law without a peep.

I wondered for a minute whether she's too attached, since she is on on near me all day and night most days. I felt kind of weird in Florida when I realized that she naps on me and sleeps with me. On the other hand, everyone comments on how alert and composed she is, how relaxed and quiet, and that's got to be at least somewhat because of how secure she is in my constant presence and love.