At 9 months and 2 weeks old, Amelia is:
- pulling up on everything, with ease. When she wants to pick something up, you can almost see her thought processes as she works out how to reach it and still hold on at the same time, crouching part way, changing her handhold, trying again...
- getting more controlled in crouching and sitting down. No longer does she crash down with a good chance of rolling backwards and end up laying on the floor.
- walking with minimal support. Working her way along the couch or holding onto a finger or two, she's only a little wobbly now. Apparently Mike walked at 10 months old and I don't think Milly is going to be too far off that.
- still crawling on her forearms. I don't think that will ever change as she likes having her hands free to drag things along with her.
- no longer guaranteed to be in the spot or room that you leave her. She's starting to explore and travel; we need to finish baby proofing!
- my cautious little girl. She likes to take her time and assess a situation, and that's not a bad thing. Watching her reach out to touch a leaf, it's a three stage process of putting her hand out, pulling it back, reaching out part way again before she's finally ready to actually touch.
- reaching for small things with the sweetest little hand movements. She'll clench and unclench her fist as her hand moves forward, as though unsure how far away the object is and trying to pick it up along the way.
- doing so much better on the separation anxiety. About late October it got really difficult, where I couldn't even leave her on the floor and step into the kitchen 3 metres away without getting upset and crawling after me. Thankfully a little time has made so much difference, to the point that we can be in another room and she'll be fine playing away on her own. When she's not, Milly will start to come and find us, but more in a 'what am I missing out on?' way rather than 'you've abandoned me!'.
- becoming so much more relaxed with other people. As her separation anxiety ebbs (for now) Milly is more willing to be held by others. She might look to check Mike or I are still around, and when she's had enough she'll squirm and reach for us, but this is nowhere near the panic and concern she used to have.
- not happy if she is left with someone and can't find either Mike or I. I don't think it's the stress that it used to be (after I dashed to the toilet yesterday while out shopping, Nicole said Milly looked to be trying to calm herself down when she got really worked up) but she'll grizzle and whinge and try to get away and come find us.
- not a snuggler. If she leans in and puts her head on my shoulder I know she's tired because the rest of the time she is too busy moving and squirming, perching up to look around.
- laying down on her tummy and resting her head on the floor for a few moments if she is tired, before going back to playing.
- almost sleeping through the night!!! She did last night in fact, from 7:30pm to 6:30am with barely a murmur, but we don't quite have consistency yet. After struggling with her nighttime sleep for a month or two(it got worse than it used to be) we went on holiday and, as if by magic, she started pretty much sleeping through the night on her own. When we came home I tried working out what was different and that we could tweak in our routine. Turns out, and it's a kick myself with hindsight thing, I was letting the wake period between final nap and bed be too long and she was becoming overtired.
- still needing 3 naps a day, even if the last one is only 10 minutes that she fights. Milly is awake for 90 minutes in the morning before her first nap of, hopefully, at least 90 minutes but up to 3 hours. Two hours awake then a nap of generally an hour to 90 minutes. Another two hours awake then a final short nap, which should take us to 4pm or later. No more than 2 hours and 45 minutes awake before a bedtime of around 7pm.
- a good sleeper. We have a simple bedtime routine and, as long as we've timed it correctly, we can put her in her cot, walk away and she'll put herself to sleep. Her Grandma was babysitting the other night and Milly was grizzly, upset and wanting us. Knowing she was tired, Julie put her to bed and Milly just stopped crying and went to sleep! That so reminds me of her big cousin.
- often too restless to easily settle into a feed, wanting to push up and look around. We battle sometimes, even if she is hungry, because the world is just so interesting or she's seem something great to fiddle with.
- often horrendous to change. Wriggly, squirmy, over onto her tummy in a moment. And putting on pants seems to be cruel and unusual punishment.
- dropping everything over the edge. The distraction toy I hand her on the change table, her water bottle at the high chair, the dummy out of the cot, down they all go.
- really likes music and playing music on her toys.
- loves being sung to and her current favourite song seems to be If you're happy and you know it.
- clapping her hands by her right hand hitting the back of her left. It's so adorable.
- loves waving. She knows the word 'wave' and will happily wave to anyone, although her reaction time is a little slow.
- knows 'uhuh', 'no' and 'Milly' in the you're-doing-something-you-shouldn't tone of voice.
- saying 'dada' a lot. She loves her dada so much, literally shaking with excitement when he went in to pick her up from her cot this morning! I've heard 'mama' once - grizzle grizzle mama grizzle grizzle - and there's something that sounds an awful lot like 'hello'.
- the proud owner of only 2 teeth, although we keep thinking the arrival the next one is imminent.
As a Mum of 9 months and 2 weeks, I am:
- looking forward introducing Milly to Christmas and starting family traditions together.
- filling up my car with Christmas shopping. The car boot is taken up with the pram and the younger they are the bigger everything fun seems to buy.
- finishing tyipng this with a wriggle girl on my lap or getting into things she shouldn't at my feet. Licking your Dad's boots, really?!
