9 Months

Sophie recently turned 9 Months, and we have seen a lot of changes lately! She is still growing (both up and out!) and is now 29.5 inches and 20.6 pounds, and continues to be in the 95%. This means that she has grown 11 inches and gained 15 pounds since birth. Everyone who sees her comments on what a big girl she is. New likes and dislikes:

Likes:

1. One of Sophie's favorite things to do is pull all of her toys out of her toy box. This can entertain her happily for 45 minutes or more, as she chews and plays with each toy as she pulls it out. Now, I am sure that you are thinking that it is great that she plays independently for so long- but she likes me to sit right behind her. She often stops, turns around and pats my leg- as if to say,"isn't this fun Mom!" She then turns back around and continues pulling out toys. If only she would put the toys back in the box after she pulled them all out.

2. Sophie loves to roll and is becoming increasingly mobile. After dinner we clear everything off the living room floor and she happily rolls around for almost an hour. She can make her way across our entire living room. She is just starting now to move backwards on her tummy, and can pretty much go anywhere she wants. The video is shotty filming at best- do not watch on a full tummy.


Dislikes
1. Being burped! This has been her major dislike since birth, and it continues to be. She now has taken it up a notch- not only does she simply cry or scream when the bottle is removed, she now thrashes about- kicking her legs, arching her back, and waving her arms wildly about. Her tantrums are enough to make a seasoned 2 year old proud.

2. Being confined. Now that she can move around, she does not want to be confined in any way. The once loved exersaucer is now neglected to the side. When I try to put her in it, she holds her legs straight out, much like a gymnast on the rings, and I have to put her down as I cannot hold 20 pounds with straight arms for very long.
We have had a lot of fun with our little Sophs, and she brings us a lot of joy. It will be fun to see what's next!

Blueberry Girl

Sophie has always been a good eater, from the very first bite of rice cereal. It has been a lot of fun to feed her, and to let her try new food. Since she now has officially 4 teeth, we have been giving her chunkier foods. She has recently tried cantaloupe, yogurt, broccoli, and tofu. There is nothing that she does not like. She now has a new favorite- blueberries. I cannot feed them to her fast enough- eventually she gets fed up with my slowness, and grabs the spoon herself. This is great fun. It does not matter if the food does not make it into her mouth, it is also a lot of fun to smear the food onto the tray, pound it with her fists, and then try again to get it into her mouth. Blueberries, by the way, are especially fun to pound and crush in your hands, as they have excellent smearing capabilities. The clean up, however is not so fun. Sophie finds this process completely unnecessary. So far I am winning the battle as I refuse to let her go around blueberried. I am though looking for long-sleeved bibs and a drop cloth, and perhaps a fireman's hose.

Merry Christmas!

We just returned from our Christmas Extravaganza! It was 2 full weeks of celebrating, opening presents, being with family, and eating big meals. Did I mention that we returned a bit larger then we were before? Our first Christmas started off in Shelby with Carl's family. Sophie had a great time playing with her Grams and Gramps and cousins. We also quickly learned that opening presents is not a skill that needs teaching- it is purely instinct. Sophie loved to rip open the presents- and then of course- sample the wrapping paper.

Opening presents with Daddy

Playing with her cousins Vivi and Kyle


Playing with Gramps

Once we got back from Shelby we left the next day for Portland, on Christmas Eve. Sophie was extremely excited to see her Nana and Rosie the dog. Rosie quickly became Sophie's best friend, and they spent a lot of time together. Sophie loved to watch Rosie and would often smile and laugh at her.

Sophie playing in her exer-saucer with Nana and Rosie

Sophie playing on the floor- under the careful watch of Rosie

Eating dinner and stopping to give Rosie a pet. Rosie knew right away that this was the place to be.

Baby Boot Camp

Sophie recently had her 6 month (gestational age) NICU appointment. This appointment was for preemies to see if they were developing normally. There were 6 specialists; including a speech path, a gross motor specialist, a fine motor specialist, a nutritionist, a well baby doctor, and the general pediatrician. They watched Sophie play for a half-hour, and interact with us while they made many notes. Needless to say it was a little intimidating. I asked if we got the biggest preemie award and they all laughed. I think they thought I was joking.

When the results were in they told us more tummy time. Ugh the dreaded tummy time. Sophie has always hated tummy time, before she could roll over she would almost always spit up within the first minute of being placed on her tummy. Now that she can roll over, she does so immediately. So we have had to do a little baby boot camp. We have been putting her on her tummy over, and over, and over- and even blocking her from rolling over. We have used many "forbidden" objects to entice her to stay on her tummy, like remotes and cell phones. Sadly, Carl's cell phone was recently drooled to death, and he became yet another parent whose child destroyed their phone. This of course is incredibly ironic, because we swore (before we were parents) that we would never let our children play with cell phones and remotes. Ha! But Carl's cell phone did not die in vain, as she can now get up into all fours, and stays on her tummy for up to a minute! She is still a long way from crawling, but we have hope that one day she will!

I love books!

I started to read to Sophie every day before naps when she was 6 months old. She liked books immediately. I've then discovered that some of them are too exciting to read before trying to sleep- such as Feely Bugs. Surprisingly, at this young age, she has favorite books. Right now her favorite book is Good Night Moon. (She will keep reaching for this book until I read it to her.) This is especially neat because it used to be one of my favorites. It has been a lot of fun to watch her discover new things about each book- a flap here, a bumpy part there. I look forward to keep reading to her, there are so many great books out there!

Oh yes, our Sophie is so advanced that she can read books while holding them upside down. We are quite proud.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a terrific trip to Portland, and were lucky enough to spend 9 days there. Sophie once again proved that she is a great traveler, and had no problems with any of the flights. (Although the man whose hair Sophie pulled while waiting in line might disagree.) Sophie had a wonderful time at Nana's house. She greatly enjoyed playing and reading books with Nana, and playing with Rosie the dog. Every time Rosie would walk by her she would give her a big smile and greet her with a laugh. She did not care much for the cat Suta- and the feelings were mutual. We are looking forward to going back at Christmas.

Sophie had lots of fun playing with Nana

Reading books is one of her favorite activities

Sophie and her new friend Rosie

Sophie Laughs Again!

Back by popular demand! Sophie was finishing her lunch today- licking the bowl clean- when I sneezed. She started to laugh so I quickly grabbed the camera to catch her laughing again. Enjoy!