Nine Months

Hi! We’re now nine months old.

9 months old

Eating

We nurse usually five times a day — sometimes four, sometimes six or seven. The girls now get two full jars each of baby food a day (so four total — per day), along with about 1/4 cup of cereal each. This  means my stash of baby food is being rapidly depleted day by day. They’ve also tried toast and bagels with cream cheese, which they both love. Chunky food is definitely NOT on their list of favorite foods. Small pieces of undefinable dirt and crumbs from the floor ARE on the list.

Sleeping

Elise continues to have problems sleeping. She usually always wakes once within a few hours of going down for the night. She refuses to be nursed and I can only sometimes get her back to sleep on her own. The past few nights, Chris has taken her on short walks outside. That does the trick every time. I suspect it’s a combination of developmental milestones and being off routine (with family visiting).

Luckily, Althea sleeps through Elise’s screaming.

They do one 2-hour nap in the morning about 2 hours after waking, and another 2 hour nap about 2 hours after that.

Personalities

The girls do a lot of things alike and/or at the same time, but they are very different people. Elise is becoming our slightly more serious or introspective girl. In general, her physical movements are more calculated and thought out. She’ll watch Althea do something for several days before attempting it herself. When Elise sits up, she’s balanced and planted in place. She’ll study things and when she’s uncomfortable, she turns toward me for comfort.

Althea, on the other hand, shrieks and squeals and laughs like a mad woman. When she sits, anything can distract her, causing more than a few encounters between the tile floor and her skull. She climbs and conquers and attacks. Though she’s independent in many ways, she still wants comfort and attention from me and Chris.

Milestones

Althea has her two top and bottom front teeth in. Elise has her bottom two front teeth in and one top front tooth. Her second top tooth is STILL torturing her, but out of nowhere, her left eye tooth appeared. (By the way, anyone who says that teeth don’t bother with nursing is a liar.)

Their hair is growing quite a bit these days. I’m not much of a girly type, but that wispy baby hair is just begging for little bows and clips.

Both girls can stand for quite a while. A couple of times, Elise has been standing with a toy in one hand and the other on a wall and tried to grab the toy with both hands, only to fall on her butt. The other day, she released both hands from the wall and fell after a second. Although Althea’s generally our more athletic baby, I have a feeling Elise will be the first to stand on her own. However, Althea will be the first to climb Mt. Everest.

They talk a LOT these days. Dadada, mamama, tetetetete, ch, k, ba, brr, beh, ahhh, ohh, ehhhh, th, ssss, la, le, and so on.

I’m kind of freaking the hell out. I don’t understand how it’s possible that we’re approaching their first birthday. I see them as these helpless newborn babies still, but every once in a while I glace at their figures in their cribs and realize how long they are, how much they’ve grown, how they’re starting to look like little girls.

Althea - 9 months

Elise - 9 months