Mikayla at Nine Months

Can you believe that we just had Mikayla's nine month check-up at the pediatrician yesterday, and scheduled her ONE YEAR appointment for January? Oh my, where has the time gone?

I'm happy to report an overall very clean bill of health from the doctor (who, by the way, gives me tips on cloth diapering and is impressed that I still use prefolds, since she switched to pocket diapers). Mikayla weighs in at 17 lb 5.5 oz, placing her at the 70th percentile for weight, and is 27 inches long, placing her at the 50th percentil for height. I'm skeptical of the latter measurement, however, since she barely held still long enough to see where her foot reached on the baby-length-measurer-thing. But the general consensus is, she continues to grow and thrive in every way!

Other than the rash covering her entire body, but that has mostly cleared up today so we'll not speak of it.

Let's see, what milestones are we hitting these days? Mikayla has partially weaned herself from nursing, sticking with the morning and bedtime feedings but otherwise having no interest at all. I blame 2P. We give her a bottle of formula at lunch and dinner, which the doctor said is good since she should be getting half her nutrition from milk/formula and half from food at this point. The doctor asked whether she has developed her "pincer grasp" (thumb and forefinger), and I wracked my brain trying to think...I think she CAN pincer grasp, but about 90% of the time she still "rakes" (full hand grasp) because seriously, the girl's #1 priority is getting ALL of the food into her mouth at once! I observed her more today and noticed that yes, she definitely can pincer grasp, particularly when she wants the bananas and not the cheese. She's a champ with her sippy cup, and holds her own bottle as well. So independent! Her favorite foods include cheerios, bananas, sweet potatoes, kiwi, and YOGURT oh my goodness yogurt. She delights in almost every food we introduce, but she lights up when she sees the yogurt coming. Plain yogurt. I don't understand it, but hey, it's good for her.

Outside of the kitchen, she is standing and cruising like nobody's business. We just borrowed a slightly more sturdy walker from friends of ours, and we have watched her take several steps with it before plunking down on her bottom. Grandpa Pearce claims that today she walked the length of the room with it! Without firsthand parental confirmation, I can't completely vouch for the truth of the claim (you know how grandparents can exaggerate), but I wouldn't be at all surprised. She is ready to move! Mikayla does "so big!" and this adorable head tilt, and has recently been giving her dadda high fives. Not always on command, of course, but the doctor assured me that it's normal for her not to perform like a monkey at nine months of age. She does say dadda and mama sometimes, as well as "ha-ta", whatever that means.

To give you an idea of how active munchkin is, yesterday I was sitting on our bed with her crawling all about. I had her by the leg of her pants, as she was squirming toward my nightstand to check out the monitor and whatever else is over there. She wiggles so much that while I tried to hold onto her ankle, most of the time I had a firm grasp of nothing but denim. I looked away for a moment to do whatever it was I was doing, still keeping her by the leg, and suddenly heard a big THUD and realized I was holding empty pants! Mikayla had wiggled right out of her pants and toppled off the bed! She cried for about three seconds, and not very hard at that, since it was a short fall from our low bed onto the soft carpet. Thankfully. My little wiggle worm has not stopped moving since the first kick in my belly!

At the same time, though, she is incredibly laid back. We took her our to a restaurant for the first time yesterday evening and sat her in a high chair while we ate with Joel's dad. Even though we kept her out past her bedtime, she fussed only minimally and kept a big smile on her face right up to the end, charming other diners with those big eyes of hers. So we have this great combination of mellow and active/inquisitive. It's so fun to watch her develop!

I stopped by a big Mennonite-run general store today to pick up some diaper doublers for Mikayla for overnight. They have a pretty nice baby section, and I found myself looking at tiny onesies, receiving blankets, baby books...wondering whether I will soon be shopping for a little sister or little brother. I was so tempted to buy something for him or her - it's a good thing I don't know whether to buy blue or pink! I was like a child in a candy store...I had forgotten how much fun it is to shop for baby things. We should find out soon whether 2P has a little stem on the apple, and then, my friends, then I shall go back and BUY things. Don't tell Joel.

I certainly hope this is coherent. I'm not going to bother to edit...I have a bit of a fever today, amongst other issues, but I wanted to update you on Mikayla. Inspired by the prompting of a friend - apparently, inquiring minds want to know how big my daughter has gotten :).

SDG!