9 Months Old!

Dear Evelyn,

You are an awesome child. Funny, quirky, social and focused. You are fast becoming a baby girl instead of an infant.

• You've started using 'Momma' and 'Dada' appropriately. Not always. Sometimes you are just practicing your words but you know what the words mean.
• This past month you developed an interesting 'clap'. When excited, your hands come up by your face and then you jerk them together like you are going to clap. But you don't finish. It's hilarious.

• You have become a dancing machine. You'll wave an arm. Or shake your booty. Or bob back and forth. You dance pretty much whenever you hear music you like or when Momma says 'Dancin', dancin'!' (the punctuation for that can't possibly be right- thoughts?)
• Verbose is one way to describe you. Oohs and Aahs. Some goos and anungs. Ayah ayah, grrrrowl and squeal. You thoroughly enjoy trying out new sounds.
• You take joy in belly buttons. It's especially clever of Momma and Daddy to have them.
• Games you enjoy include pointing at others, waiting for them to point back; offering items to Momma or Daddy and then taking them back; peek-a-boo; splashing in the tub; standing so you can't see Momma without turning, then giggling or shrieking when you turn to look for her.
• You like to eat banana puffs, prunes, apple cinnamon oatmeal, sweet potato, and little bits of apple. You are very proud when you feed yourself.

• At your nine month checkup, you weighed 21 pounds 4 ounces and were a whopping 29" tall. Your hair is growing like mad as well and is often floating around your head like a strawberry blonde baby 'fro.

• You love to be outside and the changing colors of the leaves is very intriguing. You still love to look at roses.
• You are wearing 12 month sized clothing but you are approaching the upper size limits. You'll probably be moving over to 18 month sized clothing after our trip to Alaska.
• You have become a well-traveled crawler and you are currently working on standing on your own. You'll often pull up on a piece of furniture and then let go to play with a toy with both hands.

This time next month we'll be on our way to Alaska. It's amazing to think of what new things await us as Christmas approaches. Will you like the snow? The reindeer? Will you be able to handle an entire house full of Munsons? Will you walk while both sets of grandparents are there to cheer you on?

We'll be finding out soon!

Love you to pieces!

Momma