9 months

Pancake is such a cutie pie. She is very ticklish and quick to laugh even when we're not tickling her. She is imitating more. This morning she was trying to color with a crayon in each hand she was hitting the coloring book with the side of the crayons instead of the tip. She didn't even attempt to put them in her mouth. She saw Doodle coloring and knew what the crayons were for. It was really cute.

When you say, "How big is Pancake?" She, sometimes, puts her hands in the air and smiles while we say "so big." She started clapping right around Christmas. Occasionally she says, "yay" while she claps. She is happier on her belly but still won't stay on it for longer than 10 minutes. With her belly mostly stationary she rotates around in a complete circle to get a glimpse of her brother or grab a toy. She whines if you take a toy or something else away from her that she wants to keep holding or putting in her mouth.

She still loves to eat. Last night for her new year's eve dinner she had a container of sweet potatoes, some homemade peas with oatmeal cereal and then a container of banana yogurt. She would have kept eating if I hadn't cleaned her up and put her on the floor to play. She eats Cheerios and baby puffs like a champ. Her pincher grasp is great. She eats little cubes of tofu that way too. I love that she can eat some things independently now because it keeps her occupied while I do other things. Yesterday she pulled at my shirt and said, "eh, eh?" because she wanted to nurse.

She bops her little body up and down, while seated, to any kind of music, even when Doodle bangs on the piano. She can scoot around on her butt if she's on a slick floor like the hard wood in our dining room. But she prefers not to be mobile.

The combination of her enormous appetite and her disinterest in moving is making for a nice chubby baby. I'm anxious to see what she weighs at her nine month appointment next week.

She still doesn't sleep through the night. We had her almost there before Christmas but having numerous house guests over Christmas has ruined our progress. Last night she woke up at 2:20 a.m. and again at 5:40 a.m. Then up for the day at 7:30 a.m. My goal for this week is to get her back on schedule and waking up only once. Next week we'll aim for through-the-night sleeping.

Pancake, you're a little sweetheart. I love you so much.