nine months

My brain is a bit fried because our nine month old has been quite sick. She has had a temperature somewhere between 103.5 and 101 for the past three days. We took her to the doctor, but they could not find any signs of an infection. So we just wait and hope that this passes. She has had to sleep on us every night this week because she will not stay asleep longer than an hour on her own. But here is what she has been doing this past month: 

- She is a definitely mobile. I thought that she would begin to use her knees more when she crawls, but she still does the arm pull with her legs dragging behind her. She has figured out how to move from room to room, but is not incredibly interested in touring the house. I think that once she figures out how to actually crawl, she will be getting around more. 

- She has pulled up to stand several times. She reaches to pull up on nearly everything, but still struggles to find the strength. 

- She is content to just sit next to me and crawl all over me in bed in the mornings. She just really enjoys being close to us. 

- She still curls her nose up and snorts when she gets excited. Its just like a cute, kind of creepy, little piglet. It makes us laugh every time. 

- She is clapping. I love to watch her try and get her hands to meet. She usually claps when appropriate too. She gets excited watching other children and when we are eating. 

- She is a really great waver which usually leads to her clapping. 

- She is understanding everything we say. She has gotten her feelings hurt when I ask her to stop pulling my hair, she breaks out in a big, dramatic cry. She also understands when we ask her to share whatever she has in her hands. She shoves whatever it is in our mouth. 

- She is still not the greatest sleeper, but we were getting enough to function. However, after this sickness, I have a feeling she will totally forget how to sleep on her own. I am kind of dreading it. 

- She is mimicking all our noises. Her and Madison seem to communicate in their own language. Its fun to banter with her in gibberish. 

- She and Madison are playing a lot more together. Madison will sit with Eliza in her room and "read" her books for twenty minutes at a time. Madison describes all the pages to her and Eliza just sits there and chews on a toy. It is quite heart melting. 

We love our little Eliza Lynn, I can not imagine life with out her. I am excited for what these next few months hold for her. She is going to be figuring out so much more about life. 

Here is a glimpse into how our photo shoot went today...

And Eliza says, "that's all, folks!"