The Harding Family Adventures: 9 Months

This month was all about consequences and actions. And being busy. Month nine has been another month of perfecting the skills she has previously learned and mastering concepts.

I mentioned last month that Abby was proficient at crawling and pulling up, well, that was a bit naive of me. She is now crawling super fast all over the house, and mostly crawls to gain access to something sturdy (or not so sturdy sometimes) to pull up on, so she can furniture surf her way around our condo. Abby has found our bowl of running gels in the front hall, she’s loves to play with the handles on her dresser, she will follow you into the bathroom and pull up on the bath (smacking the bath makes a very loud noise). Dustin and I have now had to hide, store, pack, move or throw out many of our things because little, nosy hands have gotten into them. She hates being confined, too. Which means that the Jumperoo is no longer fun, and diaper changes are torture. Abby and I struggle during diaper changes more often than not, and usually ends up with Abby crawling away, bare-bummed, with a huge smile on her face - “I’m free”. She is certainly in motion for much of the day (as you can tell by this month's photos - she would not sit still).

We’ve had a couple of times where Abby will stand without holding onto anything, which is the next step before walking. I’m both excited for and dreading the day Abby takes her first step. I think once she goes, she’ll never stop. As much as I am exhausted from running around after Abby, I love to watch her explore and investigate. You can watch the wheels turning in her head and she figures things out. Abby got ahold of a cowbell the other day, and I loved watching as she turned it over to figure out how the pin inside worked to make it ring. Then she would shake that thing! Abby still loves noise and music, especially now that she can make it.

Speaking of noises, Abby is certainly making more. She has this amazing squeal she’ll let loose when she’s happy or excited. She is also babbling a lot more and makes funny sounds, like sounding like an elephant! But it’s funny, Abby is like me, in that in new situations, she’d rather be quiet and take everything in for a while, but then she turns into her dad, yelling and laughing and squealing, gaining everyone’s attention. I love when Abby will put on her serious face and come up real close to your face, and “talk” to you. Very cute. Beyond talking, Abby’s comprehension is increasing. She definitely knows what it means when I get out her highchair, or when we go into her bathroom. Abby is starting to understand complex relationships, as well; I’ve begun to teach her that her soother and monkey stay in her crib when she’s finished sleeping, so just the other day, after much prompting, she spit her soother into her crib when I picked her up. Abby has also started to clap her hands and will give high fives. Waving is still a work in progress, it’s less on command and more whenever she feels like it.

Abby is still a great eater. She still loves protein (I believe eggs and chicken are her favourite foods so far). She will try anything, and Dustin and I love testing her to see what she will like. So far, only couscous was a no-go, probably because it was so hard to self-feed. I'm trying to get her up to three food meals a day, which is harder on me trying to come up with three meals than on her tummy. And finally, all the food has been producing results! After Abby and I got back from Salem, I really felt like Abby went through a rather large growth spurt. Before we left I was worried about Abby’s lack of weigh gain, but she seems to made up for that. She’s now close to 17lbs and 28 inches, gaining close to a pound and a half and an inch in a month, when she barely gained that in the preceding three months! Of course, Abby waited until after I bought her a pile of new clothes before she grew. She may not be in this size for very much longer!

I love to see Abby's favourites starting to come forward. She loves books (especially, lift the flap books, "Dear Zoo") - she crawls over to her bookshelf and picks out books for us to read, she has favourite food (eggs and chicken), and she loves her Daddy - she gets so excited when he comes home, she'll jump in my arms and get a huge smile. She's started to dance too, I love the little bum wiggle and knee bounce when I put on music. We also may have a lefty. Abby has been favouring her left hand quite a lot while eating and when opening her lift the flap books. I don't know if it's too early to tell, but something interesting to keep an eye on.

It’s been a crazy month, of moving and running around the condo, of Abby’s first airplane flight and first Halloween. I’m hoping next month will bring us more teeth. We’ve ended this month with her second cold, and her hand is constantly in her mouth - so I think new teeth are imminent.

Abby is certainly a handful, but as Dustin and I constantly remind her, it’s a good thing she’s cute and (becoming) hilarious! The next couple of months are going to be exciting and sad, as I’m losing my baby and gaining a toddler.