Friday, September 4, 2009

The Amazing, Unbelievable, Super-Mira!!!

This may be a little boring for some - no pics. I just wanted to "jot" a few things down about Mira and all the awesome things she's doing these days...

  • She is 9 1/2 months old!
  • She still only has her two, bottom, front teeth...don't know where those upper teeth are! But, that's really okay, because she's already quite the biter, and I'm sincerely worried about the pain she is going to inflict once she has an upper and lower set of teeth. I've already apoligized to Casey in advance for anytime she ever bites Mason. I feel like it's inevitable...though I'll try my hardest to prevent it!!
  • She is still wearing size 3 diapers, but is moving up to 4's after these 3's are gone. She is wearing anywhere from 6 mo. to 9-12 mo. clothes.
  • If we are at home, she is probably in nothing but a t-shirt and diaper - it's cute, it's easy come diaper changing time (which comes so very often), it's comfy, and she can crawl without getting tangled up in clothes.
  • She is totally paci-free and has been for about 2-3 weeks now. This is something that I am really glad we did - we will SO thank ourselves for not having to deal with the "Paci Fairy" when she's a toddler! I've had experience weaning a 2 1/2 year old off a pacifier, and it was HORRIBLE! So, I'm proud of all three of us for working through it now and saving ourselves from heartache later. (disclaimer: I'm sure some people have had very pleasant experiences dealing with it in the toddler years, and I am not making any judgments, but I'd rather not risk it!)
  • She is taking all her naps in her crib, and I've disassembled the swing. This is HUGE since it was the go-to at nap time.
  • She is sleeping through the night most nights, usually waking up some time between 5:30 and 6:30. Every once in a while, she'll wake up at 4 am and want a shot of formula before going back to sleep.
  • She claps her hands and waves "hello" and "bye bye." We are also very close to "blowing kisses" which I'm so very excited about!!
  • She can put something "in" something else (blocks in a bucket, for example).
  • She's just begining to use her little pointer finger...or you could call it her "poker finger" since she's usually trying to poke that little finger into someone's mouth or nose or eyeball!
  • She is crawling like a mad woman all over the place - she is very fast and has learned that what she thought were boundaries are, in fact, not boundaries at all!! Now she knows that she can come find us if she wants us rather than sit and cry for us to come to her.
  • She is ever-curious about everything around her and often cranes her neck and/or stands on her tip-toes to see what's going on (it's the cutest!).
  • She loves the water whether it is 2 inches in a tub, pouring from a faucet, in a swimming pool, or in a cup that she can drink out of! She loves...no...LOVES to splash (and is very good at it).
  • She has climbed all the way to the top of our staircase several times now.
  • She has stood all by herself for up to 10 seconds! But, now she's on to me and twists around to grab me if I start to let go of her. We have to really distract her to get her to do it (usually, it's watching the dogs play-wrestle that grabs her attention well enough). She just gets a little nervous once she realizes she's doing it all by herself.
  • She is a master at cruising along furniture, people, Jeter & Shatzie - you name it! She can go from one to the other without hesitating, she can twist and turn around, she can stoop and pick things up, she can sit down in a controlled manner and then stand right back up.
  • She is starting to make an obvious effort of mimicking us in tone, pitch, and sound! No words just yet, except for "mama" and "daddy" which she is using on the right person more and more often.
  • She still won't eat any kind of wet or squishy chunk of food like diced apples or carrots, peas, etc., but she loves any kind of dry food such as crackers, puffs, yogurt drops, etc. that she can feed herself.
  • She loves green beans and zucchini. She doesn't have much of a sweet tooth (didn't get that from her Mommy, I suppose - thank goodness!).
  • She is drinking a 6 ounce bottle of formula 4 times a day and eats three solid meals a day.
  • She hates being laid down for a diaper change and usually fusses the whole time unless you make a complete spectacle of yourself in order to entertain and distract her. Oddly, she doesn't fuss at all when I change her in the car; I either lay her in the passenger floorboard (she's almost gotten too big for this) or in the back cargo space if it's clear (we drive a Ford Escape).
  • She is very tentative in new situations or around new people. She likes to sit back, watch, and analyze the situation rather than diving right into the action. This is very apparent at Gymboree where she has this huge, safe space to crawl all over and play in, but she mostly sits very still and stares at the other babies for the majority of the time. She does play and crawl - just not as much as she does at home. It's so fun to see her personality grow and show itself!
  • She is a Momma's Girl. She clings to me and cries for me and throws herself at me if someone else is holding her and I get sort of close. I suppose this is to be expected since we are together all day, everyday! =) I know that one day it won't be all about Mommy anymore...eventually, she will realize that Daddy is way more fun and will want to follow him around everywhere. And he will let her. So, I shall revel and enjoy my Momma's Girl for now. She has started the gym nursery, and so she is (we are) getting some practice at being separated. I think she's doing better than me...I miss her terribly when I'm away from her (and I'm only about 40 ft away!). I'll get better. I hope.

She melts our hearts with her giggles and grins and big open mouth kisses!! We sing, we dance, we make total fools of ourselves in hopes of getting the slightest show of approval! We must be in love!

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