Thoughts at Nine Months

I can’t believe Leah is nine months old. I’ve always heard other moms say things like that, emphasizing how quickly children grow up and how fast the time goes, but I have to confess that I always kind of thought it was just “something to say.” I thought it fell in the same category as small talk about the weather; it’s something to say when you don’t really have much else to talk about. Now, though, nine months into my little girl’s life with us, I understand all too well that time does fly, and that children do grow up right before our eyes, at a rate that breaks any mother’s heart.

I really cannot believe that she is nine months old. I’m not just saying that. I counted it up the other day and found that she is 39 weeks old. She was born at 39 weeks gestation.....somehow, it seems like the past 39 weeks have gone faster than the 39 weeks during which I was pregnant. Maybe it's just me.

She’s seeming more and more like a little girl – rather than a little baby – every day. That’s no exaggeration. Every morning when I get her up, she looks a little more grown up. The other day when we went to the grocery store, she needed a jacket. Once I got her all dressed and ready to go I was in awe of how grown-up she seemed. (Of course, she reminded me that she is, in fact, still a baby when I set her down for two seconds to take a picture and she began to cry.)

She is all about crawling, pulling up, and standing right now. She is all over the place. Of particular interest to her are the power cords accompanying the computers and internet, the glass on the entertainment center, the floor-length curtains, and the coasters on the coffee table. (I’m saying the word “no” a lot, it seems.) We’re babyproofed, for sure, but I don’t believe in completely altering the look and decor of our home. Instead, we’re trying to teach her what she can’t play with, and keeping anything dangerous out of her reach entirely. I think that's ultimately better for her, as long as we keep an eye on her in the meantime, which of course we do. (We’re still trying to find a solution to the power cord situation.) If I’m laying or sitting on the floor playing with her, I become a jungle gym. My clothes keep getting warped and stretched, for some reason. Beats me.

For a long time, as a way of sort of corralling her in the family room, we were using big bumper pillows to block off certain areas. This was especially beneficial when she was in her rolling mode, as she had a way of rolling under the coffee table and getting herself stuck. Now, though, the pillows are useless. She’ll climb on them, move them, and completely bypass them to get where she wants to be. We’ve moved them instead to block off the fireplace, since the stones of the hearth aren’t something I want her to meet anytime soon.

She loves to stand up. Loves it. It seems that once she learned to crawl, she no longer even wanted to do it. She would much rather skip right to walking, as she more and more often is unhappy in any place or position except standing. She spends a lot of time standing in her PackNPlay and cruising around its perimeter.

She plays really, really well by herself, but plays well with others (so far), too. She is entertained by other babies when her cousins come visit or she is in the church nursery, and doesn’t seem too bothered at this point if someone takes her toys from her. She will, however, fight back if someone gets too in her face. Now that she’s more mobile, I’m not sure how her cousin who’s closest in age feels about that.

Since she’s pulling up to standing on her own, we had to lower her crib mattress down. It seems SO low now, and it might have been a little early to do that, but I’d rather have to bend over a little more to get her in and out than be in bed and hear a solid thud as she hits the floor of her room, directly over ours. Sadly, her mobile was also retired, as she was reaching up and getting a good hold of it when she refused to take her naps.

And speaking of naps…… Her schedule seems to be changing again, and I’m not sure if it’s going to be a permanent change or not. She has been pretty irregular lately, and I think much of it can be attributed to the fact that she’s hitting some pretty big milestones and is teething, too. (The above picture was during a 5-minute power nap in her high chair following supper one night last week.)

She is getting SO BIG. She had her nine month appointment Friday, and everything looked great. She weighs 18 pounds and 7 ounces, which puts her in the 50th percentile. She’s 30 1/4 inches long (tall?) though, which means she is literally off the chart when it comes to her height. There is no percentile for that. There’s the curve, containing every child, and then there’s Leah floating somewhere up above them. Her doctor is still somewhat concerned about her hip and the possibility of displacement; he thought he might have seen signs that it was worse this time than last time. We have another appointment with the specialist later this month.

Our little girl is growing up. We have a lot of “firsts” coming up in the next few months, with first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthday, PLUS the obvious first steps, first words, and first…..who knows? It’s fun, sad, exciting, and scary. I’m feeling more and more inadequate, unprepared for the task of mothering this little girl and raising her into a godly young woman, but that makes me rely on my own Heavenly Parent more than ever. That can only be a good thing, for her and for me.