Brooke is 9 Months

I am behind in my post writing with all of the (wonderful) things and events that have been happening in our lives. It’s a very busy time of the year for us. But without much ado, the cherished phrase “9 months in and 9 months out” is striking a ton right now. I honestly can’t believe it has already been that long! And in other ways I can’t imagine our life without sweet little Brooke. Let’s see what the past month has brought.

• She is officially…scooting. Not what we really classify as crawling on all fours but scooting using one hand (so she always has a free hand to drag something along with her). She is picking up speed and starting to get into more things by the day. She’s actually gotten pretty fast, but still in that scooting position.
• Stairs are now of keen interest to her. For the longest time she would just sit at the bottom of the stairs looking up, or would pull herself up to balance on the first step but never advance. Not anymore. She is now figuring out how to climb those stairs herself. Which I’m all for as I think it will help strengthen her arms and core and maybe help her to figure out the crawling on all four bit a little better. Maybe. She has an interesting method to climb stairs too.
• She is now doing bath in the big tub, with or without her sister. We’ve removed the baby bath since she can easily balance on her bottom in the bath and move around the bath with no problem. It was actually getting more dangerous with her trying to crawl herself out of the bath. But she definitely tries to drink water out of the running faucet when she can.
• Or drink out of any glass or bottle at any point she sees one. Reese was this way with cups and bottles to I remember but Brooke REALLY wants to drink the beverage as well.
• She is sleeping in her room. Maybe not in her crib, or in her crib all night, because the girl loves and needs cuddles. Ugh. But we are working on it and at least she has gotten used to falling asleep in another room. Bryan has done a great job the past few nights giving her a bottle before bed, instead of nursing to sleep, and I think that will help in the long run for bedtime.
• She’s figured out how to use Reese’s old snack cups with the lid. She’s a big fan of the usual goldfish crackers that are within them. She’s also figured out straws to my surprise.
• She’s learned how to wave and will do so (very pageant-like) several times a day. I think she also knows the meaning of the words “hello” and goodbye”. She certainly knows the words of “bath”, “milk” and “Reese”. And she just started saying, “ma, ma, ma, ma” instead of just “ba, ba, ba, ba” so I’m going to count her first word as “mama”!
• Like her sister, she loves a good party or social setting. This is the one time she is okay not being near mom and she certainly likes big kid’s attention.
• She still gets “look at those eyes” by every stranger and passerby.
• She is always full of smiles. I remember Reese being this way too but this girl will just smile, smile, smile all day long.
• She is getting along well with her weekday friend Maya and they both seem to be excited to see each other each day.
• She finds Reese SO. FUNNY. She laughs a bunch when Reese is doing something slightly naughty, or dancing, or shaking her booty, or pretending to fall or stumble, and especially if she thinks Reese is chasing her. This was something that I forgot Reese loved to do at around nine months; play chase, but Brooke is equally into it.

I’m all for Brooke being able to get around by herself. With the separation anxiety reaching its peak its nice that she can come find me or come to me and its not just me needing to carry her around at all times. She also wants to be on the move at all times though so its also a bit of an exhausting stage, especially when she wants to put anything and everything into her mouth. We love her smiles and her laughs and she is still just a happy go lucky kid. I especially love it when she tries to be right at Reese’s hip all of the time. It’s so cute!

Chelsea