Getting exited for Christmas

The house is all decorated, presents are all bought, and we're all packed for Christmas! It's my first Christmas, so I'm very exited about everything. I love all the shiny decorations and blinking lights. And ribbons and bows are just wonderful! We're driving up to Seattle today so we can spend Christmas with Great-Grandma Brudevold and her family. Grandma and Grandpa Brudevold and Aunt Karen and her family are coming too, so it's going to be a wonderful holiday. Everyone is going to pay so much attention to me!




Here is Mama's favorite picture of me. She thinks she's all artsy because she took it. And also a picture with our friend Akiko. We had a great time at the tatami mat room in the Japanese restaurant. She recently moved back to Japan, so we miss her a lot.

boo yoghurt, yay cheerios!

Yesterday I didn't like yoghurt, but I loved Cheerios! Every day I like different foods. It's just one of the many things that makes me so interesting!

Today I learned that if I make Papa laugh, he stops trying to put food in my mouth. I'm quite clever. I just have to do something really cute, like lean over to the side and smile, and he laughs and laughs, and puts the spoon down! It's much more fun than pouting.










Here are pictures of me in my Halloween t-shirt that Grandma bought me. I'm playing with my first rubber ducky. It's also Halloween themed and from Grandma.

New food--yoghurt

Now that I'm older than 9 months, I can have whole-milk dairy products like yoghurt and cheeses. Last night I tried yoghurt for the first time. It was pear flavored. I LOVED it! I ate about a tablespoon full. That's about all I ever eat at one sitting, so that's pretty good for a first try.







Here I am playing with one of my absolute favorite toys. It's a table toy that I stand at and push around the livingroom. It doesn't have wheels or anything, but I love to push it around all the same. In these pictures, it's sitting on the floor, but it's usually on it's own stand that's just my height.

9 month well baby checkup

Today was my 9 month well baby checkup and I am doing exceptionally well, of course. I weigh 20 lbs and 13 oz and measure 27.75 inches long. I am in the 50th %ile for height and 85th %ile for weight. That's funny because my percentiles were exactly the opposite at my first 2 month doctor's appointment. I guess I'm due for a growth spurt!

It's a good thing Mama and Papa bought me a new car seat. I had only 1 lb to spare on the last one! I now have a Recaro Signo in Midnight Desert. It was pretty expensive, but it will last until I weigh 70 lbs, which would be between the ages of 7 and 12. So that's quite a while!

Also, I learned how to climb the stairs yesterday! I got up about 6 stairs before I got too tired to continue. Everyone was cheering me on and it was great fun. I can't wait to practice again today!

The doctor thinks I don't sleep enough at night, so she told Papa to try to feed me more solid foods during the day. I really like food, but I just don't eat very much of it, so I don't know if this will work for me. She says I wake up so I can be with Mama because I miss her and her yummy milk. Maybe if I eat more during the day I'll be able to sleep longer. But I'll still miss Mama! Mama and Papa are going to try, but I wonder if it will really help. They are going to try for 3 weeks and then call the doctor back if this doesn't solve it. So I'll keep you updated!



Here's me with Grandma in another dress. I really like this one because it's cozy and has a matching hat. Grandma always has a new book for me every time I see her. I love books so much! It's really fun to get to read them with her.

Climbing

I'm getting so good at crawling. I have mastered the "cross-crawl", moving opposite limbs together, and it's made a great difference in my speed and grace. I can easily go from laying to crawling to sitting. There are so many great things to explore! I'm now working on climbing up to a standing position. It doesn't work 100% of the time, but I'm probably close to a 75% success rate.

My pincher grasp is really coming along. I practice with Cheerios. I take it all very slowly and steadily, concentrating on the task at hand. I think it really shows off my personality.










Here is a series of me in a dress! I was getting ready to go to a friend's wedding reception. Mama and I went without Papa. When we arrived, I realized that there were soooo many strangers, and Papa wasn't there! I screamed and screamed until Mama finally took me home so I could be with Papa. It was the first and the last time we'll ever go anywhere without him, I made sure of that!