9 Months Already!!

Today my gorgeous girl is 9 months old. I'm really amazed at how fast the time has gone. She looks less and less like a baby everyday, she is becoming increasingly independent and will happily go where ever she wants whether it be following me as I clean or exploring her room while I make her lunch. She has an awesome personality, is strong willed, stubborn (with two stubborn parents, she had little to no hope of not being:), funny and much too clever for her own good.

She has been able to stand without holding onto anything for awhile now and lately has been able to stand there, then squat down to do something and stand back up again without any problem. I am constantly left stunned by what she can suddenly do.

Her sleeping is getting so much better. This morning she even slept in until 8am, which is unheard of! She is only having one or two sleeps during the day but they're reasonably long ones and she gets up very happy. At night I feed her twice and mostly that's the only time I have to get up to her. I am so proud of her. It's so much easier to get through the day-to-day stuff that has to be done when I am getting more sleep and have a happy baby all the time :)

A milestone checklist from Raising Children: I've put what she can already do in bold:

The 9th month

By the end of this month,
your baby:

 … should be able
to:

• work to get to a toy out of reach
  
• look for dropped object - She thinks it's a great game, when in her highchair or on her change table, to drop things and see where they go and watch mum pick them up
  

… will probably be
able to:

• pull up to standing position from sitting 
  
• get into a sitting position from stomach - she has to roll onto her tummy to sit up, though she's trying hard to just sit straight up
  
• object if you try to take a toy away
  
• stand holding onto someone or something
  
• pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger 
  
• say mama or dada indiscriminately
  
• play peekaboo

… may possibly be
able to:

• play pat-a-cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye - She can wave but she won't wave bye-bye, she just waves randomly at the backyard or at me while playing
  
• walk holding onto furniture (cruise)
  
• understand word ‘no’ (but not always obey it)

… may even be able
to:

• ‘play ball’ (roll ball back to you)
  
• drink from a cup independently
  
• pick up a tiny object neatly with tips of thumb and forefinger
  
• stand alone momentarily
  
• stand alone well
  
• say mama or dada indiscriminately
  
• say one word other than mama or dada
  
• respond to a one-step command with gestures (give that to me – with hand
  out) - I love this. I tell her to "Come here" and she will or "Find Mum" and she does, it's very exciting.

Ellie's currently having a lovely sleep, she spent some time this morning with Grandma, which I think was very good for her, while I went and had some tests done. When she gets up I will take some piccies of her and post them.

 

The photos below are of Ellie squatting down to pick up her toy and standing back up again, though they don't show it very well.

Smiles :)