9 Months Old

As usual, I am a little late with this post.  Sophie turned 9 months old a few weeks ago.  She learned to crawl a few days before her 9 month mark, and she has been the happiest girl ever since.  Sophie is free at last!  She loves the freedom to go where she wants and play with what she wants (although that usual entails something she shouldn't be playing with so mean mommy has to take it away).  For a while Sophie wouldn't cross the magic barrier separating the carpeted living room from the rest of the house (wood and tile floors).  But now she is a pro at crawling on the slippery surfaces, so there is no stopping her.  Here are some of the highlights of the last month:

• Sophie is now bathing in the real bathtub.  I let her take a bubble bath and she absolutely loved it.  She dipped her chin in the bubbles and came out with a perfect goatee.  Isaac started laughing so hard it scared Sophie and she started crying.
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• Sophie still has a big toothy grin.  She has started doing a little scrunch when she smiles which gives her a slightly wild and mischievous look.
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• She is laughing a lot more and frequently does a funny little giggle for no apparent reason.
• Ever since Sophie was sick a few weeks ago she has been a terrible sleeper.  When I was worried about her being dehydrated, I would nurse her at night whenever I could.  Now she has frequently been waking up between 1-2am and wanting to eat.  I have tried not to nurse her then, but she gets really upset and nursing her is the easiest and fastest way to get her back to sleep.  I have tried sending Isaac in there so she won't expect food, but she wants nothing to do with Isaac in the middle of the night.  She will scream and cry until mommy comes in the room.  She also wakes up a million times wanting her binkie.  
• Sophie has started waking up really early (around 6:00am).  Every morning Isaac and I start moaning about needing to get up, but when we walk into Sophie's room she is all smiles and ready to play.  This girl is so happy to be alive.
• Sophie loves electronics and cords.  The whole living room is full of baby toys, but she wants to play with the DVD player, remote controls, cell phones, ipods, etc.  She loves pounding on the laptop and frequently hits the perfect button to do something and Isaac and I can never figure out what she did.
• Sophie is a pretty good eater.  She eats a ton, but is starting to get picky.  She loves fruit and will go through tubs and tubs a day if I let her.  She is still eating her meats and veggies, but it often takes a little persuasion and bribery with the fruit.  She really doesn't like the stage three meats that have chunks.  She is good at eating solid foods if she can pick them up herself and knows they need to be chewed, but she doesn't like the partially pureed/chunky mixture.
• We took Sophie hot tubing for the first time, and she loved it!  We tried taking a bunch of pictures, but most of them turned out blurry because our baby is too wiggly.

It is so much fun to watch this little girl grow. It is so fun to have her mobile.  She will crawl to mommy when I hold out my hands.  And she is finally excited to breastfeed.  She starts a desperate laugh and crawls over to me whenever I pull out the boppie.  Sophie is definitely keeping us on our toes more now that she can get into everything, but it is so much fun to see how much she learns and grows each day.  We love our sweet, happy little girl.