Music

Ham

Today we went in for Penny's nine-month photos. For those who don't know, we signed up for a "Watch Me Grow" package at the photographers. Technically, you get a newborn session and then a 3 month, a 6 month, a 9 month, and a 1 year session - so five total. But we didn't start until the 3 month one so this was just our third. We didn't do a lot because we did a big outdoor family shoot for the 6 month pictures. This one was just her again in the studio.

Penny was a little bit shy when we first walked in, but in under a minute she wanted to get down and play on the couch and then she wanted to play with Ms. Linda (the photographer). Linda was incredulous that I had said P was a bit shy. She said, "this is NOT shy." And it's true - she really wasn't shy in the least. In fact, she was quite the ham for the camera, as usual.

She's such a goober though. For those who I haven't told this to, when she first started crawling she wouldn't use her left leg at all. She'd take a "step" with her right leg and then drag her left one up to meet it. She did this for about a month until the weekend we were at Tray's parent's house just before she turned nine months old when she started crawling normally. So, I had planned to mention it to the doctor, but she'd started crawling normally by her visit. I did mention it, but he said it was no big deal especially since she started crawling regularly. Well, yesterday she started doing the wonky crawl again and did it the whole time we were at the photographers this afternoon such that all her "crawling" pictures show her doing the one legged crawl. But then when we got home (of course) she started crawling regularly again. Goob!

The other thing that was funny to me is thinking about how much you influence your children and how much is them - the old nature vs. nurture debate. I remember at our first visit Linda asked me about Penny liking the sock monkey so much. She asked if I tried to "make" Penny like monkeys - as in did I have her nursery decorated in monkeys or something. I said no, if anything I was trying to "make" her like dinosaurs. The monkey obsession at that age was all on her own. Well, as most of you know, Tray and I don't like dressing Penny like a girly-girl. As one of my friends put it in reference to her own daughter, I've got nothing against pink, but I refuse to dress her like a cupcake. Right on! We don't like it, sure, but there is also the factor that she just doesn't "seem" like a girly-girl to us, as though that just isn't part of her personality. Well, Linda quite often puts her little girl clients in prop pink ballerina tutus and pearls for some "girly-girl" pictures. Penny did look cute, I'll admit, and I'm sure the pictures will come out great, but you could tell she didn't like it. She took the hat off, examined the pearls and then pulled them off over her head (which I was amazed she was able to do) and seemed uncomfortable in the tutu. Pretty sure that, for now at least, she's a tomboy at heart. Nature? Nurture? Both?

***Update*** Just saw the pics tagged on facebook. Um, so the tutu pictures - absolute perfection. She might not like being a girly-girl, but you'd never know it to look at her. She's gorgeous!

***Update - Photos Posted*** Ok, now they are up on http://longsphotographyblog.com/ That was super fast Linda! Check them out.

A few pictures

Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

Penny discovered Tray's water bladder in his pack. She crawled over to it and just started slurping away:



I didn't want her drinking lying down, so here she is sitting up. I know breastfed babies don't need any additional water, but it's fun to let her have some now and again and teach her how to drink from different containers. I just never thought I'd be teaching her how to drink from this! Guess she can tag along on our eco-challenges after all. :)



It was cool one morning this week and we'd slept with the windows open, so that morning we put her sweater on. Here is her entire zebra pajama ensemble, complete with patented Penny smirk (which she now does as if on cue every time the camera comes out):



And last, but not least, we got her a walker-wagon for her 9 month birthday. I know it's plastic, but it's made in the USA! And it was waaaay cheaper than the Radio Flyer version of the same thing. Unfortunately, now I know why. The Radio Flyer push wagon has a way to slow it down, and this one doesn't. It's too fast for her to push just yet or it would shoot out from under her. However, it is still lots of fun to ride in:



Yesterday, I sat her in it and just pushed her out away from me to arm's length and drew her back to me over and over and every time she would laugh hysterically. The simple things!

Altruism

Today, Penny offered me a cheerio. I ate it, making a big show of it, and she watched me do so very stoically. Then, she offered me a second one. I ate it and she cocked her head to the side and watched me very thoughtfully. Then she offered me a third, withdrew the offer, and ate it herself. With a smile. It made me laugh so hard.

Then, this evening as I was putting her to bed, I gave her Mr. Bear to hug. She chewed on his ear for a bit and then took him and held him up for me - to do what I'm not sure - so I kissed him on the top of his head and she laughed, so I kissed him some more and that seemed satisfactory. I think it is really neat that she gave me cheerios and Mr. Bear today. That's a pretty amazing cognitive shift.

Mmmmm

I knew she'd come out of her silence with a new skill! She started saying ma-ma-ma-ma today! She still not saying actual words, just repeating sounds, but I'm pretty excited.

Nine Month Appointment

Penny had her nine-month doctor's visit today. No shots, thankfully, but she did have her blood drawn. Amazingly, she did not cry at all.
She weighs 16 pounds 8 ounces (between the 10th and 25th percentiles) and is 27.5 inches tall/long (50th percentile).
Once again, the doctor pronounced her to be "perfect."
The only issue is her ongoing milk intolerance, which may in fact be an actual milk allergy. We will try introducing a very small amount of whole milk after she turns one and if she doesn't tolerate it, then we have to wait until she is two to try again and she'll just drink soy milk until then. So, no yogurt for her. (A lot of people introduce that at 9 months.) I'm hopeful she'll grow out of it by a year, but time will tell.

Happy Nine-Month Birthday Penelope!

Today Penny turned nine months old! I can hardly believe it. The time does fly. I don't really keep track of things in weeks anymore, but I get this "this week in your baby's development" email and according to that she's 39 weeks old this week. She was born when I was 39 weeks pregnant, so she has now been out of the womb at least as long as she was in. Pretty wild.

In terms of development, she has really perfected her crawling and can now move quickly from point A to point B with a purpose. There have been a lot of cognitive changes too. I can tell she understands a lot of what we are saying to her even if she can't talk yet herself. She definitely understands the word "no" and will cry because she doesn't like it. :) Tonight, I told her we had to say "night-night" to Mr. Bear (her stuffed bear) and she grabbed him up. I hadn't really expected her to understand me, but she at least understood his name which surprised me. The last few days she has also started coming to sit in my lap and did so twice this morning. Let's see, what else? She will pull up on our pants legs now to indicate she wants to be picked up, and will (most of the time) crawl to us if we ask her to "come here". She has been in one of her quiet phases the last couple weeks, but babbled some again today. She really takes the talking stuff in starts and stops. There will be a few days of babbling followed by a week or two of not. I think maybe she's concentrating on other things when she does that. In terms of eating, she has started taking to finger foods much better. She can now do cheerios and "fruit fingers" (slices of mango or pear). Also, tonight she did the funniest thing. I laid her down in her crib and she almost immediately rolled over and sat up, but she was so tired that she just sat there for a second and wobbled and then immediately fell forward back onto the mattress sound asleep. Too funny!

For some reason, the nine-month mark really stands out to me as a milestone moreso than any other month so far. I think it is my math background - half of the second half of a year is now gone. Which is to say, in my mind, "Wow, a whole year has almost gone by."

Weekend Update

We had a good time at Tray's parent's farm this weekend. I got to meet my niece Bennett for the first time. She's just as cute as advertised. Penny seemed interested (or at least interested in her toys) - and one time attempted to take Bennett's socks off of her feet! I had a really nice time playing with Owen, even though he kept referring to me as "that girl" rather than Aunt Sam. At one point this morning, he came and sat in my lap and when Penny saw this she got upset and had to come sit in my lap too. Owen protested that there wasn't enough room and tried to get her to go away, and then she kept trying to pull his hair. Tray took four pictures, but Owen isn't looking at the camera in any of them, so, with apologies to him, I picked the best one of Penny.

Grocery Savings 4/15

Today at Publix I purchased $139.03 of groceries for $68 (including a $1 March of Dimes donation) using Southern Savers and maybe 20 minutes of coupon gathering effort (I already had the newspapers). That's a 51% savings - my best record to date. Love it!

Easter Weekend

We had a beautiful Easter weekend at home. My mom and grandmother came down to visit and on Saturday we rode down to the Worm Grunting festival in Sopchoppy. Tray and I go every year and always have a good time. We bought Penny a little green racecar toy to go in her Easter basket. It's very plain and wooden and easy for baby to push. I had picked out the red one, but Tray insisted we get the green one - and it wasn't until we got home that I figured out it was because he wanted her to have a toy car that was the same color as my real one! I thought that was very sweet. Now we need to get her a black truck like Daddy's.
Sunday afternoon after my family left, and after naps had been taken, we went outside to see what the Easter bunny left. He left a bunch of Easter eggs filled with all kinds of different candy for Tray, but for Penny to have fun shaking like maracas. She shook them some, but really liked bashing them together or onto her toy car. She also got a new (gently-used) white henley short-sleeve onesie and pair of blue jean shorts. I The Easter bunny had wrapped them in tissue paper and she had lots of fun crumpling that. And then she ate a ton of leaves. A good time was had by all. It was a lovely day to spend outside celebrating Spring. Hope your weekend was fun too.

Paper Shredder

Right now, Penny's new favorite pastime is crumpling any type of magazine, newsletter, sale paper, etc., she can get her hands on. She's quite thorough.

Wonder Week

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. We have not had internet access at our house for almost a week, and I can't blog from work.

The last week has truly been a wonder week for us. Well, really, April 1st was a "wonder day". She started crawling, pulling up, and babbling all on that day. She'd done all of those things sporadically, but that day she began doing all three with regularity. Whereas before she might occasionally crawl forward, she was just as likely to go backwards. Now, however, she crawls wherever she wants to go. Similarly, she used to try to pull up but was pretty likely to fall and crack her head on something, but now she can pull up with nary a wobble. (Ok, she still falls once in a while!) And, the babbling! She now says "da-da-da-da" in the sweetest little voice (and sometimes in a raspy "exorcist" voice too, which is pretty funny). She hasn't actually called Tray da-da yet, but I'm sure it is only a matter of time. The other really funny thing she does is to examine her hands like she's tripping at a rave. When she's done nursing, she rolls over and waves her hand back and forth in front of her face as she examines it and she often combines this with practicing her "pincer grasp". She's getting good with it - my arms have the pinch marks to prove it - and not even the most microscopic of specks on the floor escapes her attention.

I have taken a bunch of pictures over the last week, but I think I'll do a snapfish album since there are really too many to post one at a time here.

I will, however, give Mullet a public posting: Happy 19th Sweet Kitty - and thank you for refraining from clawing Penny when she grabs your back and pulls up to standing. Sorry about that.