9 Month Milestone

Our little miracle is 9 months old today.

The most recent and exciting development is that Astrid started crawling 2 days ago. What a joy it was for us as parents to see that! Long gone are the days of being completely helpless. Now she's zooming around and getting into everything.

I've created a baby run for her in the bonus room. A long (for a baby) stretch of floor space in front of the mirrored closet where she can crawl around to her heart's content. I use large pillows to block off certain areas that are potentially dangerous or that I don't want her getting into. That way I know she's safe and she can play independently.

Before she started crawling I also noticed that she was able to do a full sit up by herself without holding onto anything. I would see her lying there one minute, struggling but finally able to sit up, only to lie back down and then repeat the process over and over again. In the end it really strengthened her stomach muscles and she can now move into any position (on her back, on her side, on her belly, or sit up).

Astrid's coordination and fine motor skills are also quickly developing. She claps her hands together, gives high fives, and also does a new thing where she moves her hand up and down by bending her wrist (I plan on shaping that into a wave). She also enjoys manipulating more complex toys with her hands.

I know her eyesight is great because she notices any tiny detail on the ground which she touches with her index finger and if possible picks it up and touches it with both hands and studies it (which includes a spot on the carpet, lint, a single hair strand, piece of thread, etc.) It's always been important to keep the house clean but even more so now that Astrid is mobile on the floor and wants to touch everything.

Even though things still have a way of ending up in Astrid's mouth, more and more I see that she will first touch, grasp, and look at an object for periods of time. Sometimes she surprises me by preferring to hold an object rather than putting it in her mouth (such as the remote control).

She is babbling repeat syllables over and over again. Common ones are "appa", "bababa", "dadada", "mamama", and "papapa". I love the "papapa" ones because she says them in a whisper. And then there are times she will just shriek. I think she gets a kick out of hearing herself but it's really loud.

Currently she still has just the front 8 teeth (4 on the top and 4 on the bottom), but she has started drooling more and putting her fingers in her mouth so I have a suspicion that she's getting more teeth.

As for feedings, Astrid now has 2 servings of solids a day, as well as formula and rice cereal mixed in with her evening bottle. So far she loves the following: carrots, green beans with rice, rice & lentils, bananas, pears, apple & yogurt & oatmeal, plums & rice, mango, and sweet potato. The 3 things she doesn't care for are:
1) peas (Someone said they are similar to peanuts and can cause allergies in small children so I am not going to buy more until Astrid is older.)
2) raspberries (It was mixed with another fruit but it was way too tart even for me. Yes, I taste everything that Astrid eats)
3) pasta (This had a lot of veggies mixed in and sounded good but it tasted awful! Astrid threw up an hour later. No more pasta on the baby menu until she's older and I find something tastier.)
She's a good eater and overall has done really well with solids. She's also gotten better at spoon feedings. She no longer bites on the spoon. Hurray!

So 9 months have gone by in the blink of an eye. Astrid has spent an equal amount of time outside the womb as she has inside the womb. It's hard to believe she was born 9 months ago. I can no longer say, "I just had a baby" because it's been 9 months already! And she's definitely no longer a newborn. She's crawling now and it's just a matter a time before she makes her first baby steps.