Wow! Elliott will be 9 months old next week! I know I say this every month, but seriously, how did she get so big already? She has learned so much in the past month! She is really developing a personality now and becoming so much fun!
New accomplishments:
- 2 teeth! We’ve survived the teething process so far. But I’m glad we’ve had a little break between these first two and the next set. (Every time I try to get a picture of her teeth, she’s either making a weird face, or the picture is blurry. These are the best I could do!)
- Said dada! I know I’ve documented this all over the blog already but hey, it’s super cute!
- She’s rolling! You can tell Elliott is thrilled to be mobile. She is rolling all over the place! She really loves the playmat that we bought for her at Ikea now. It has all kinds of things to play with, like a mirror, squeaky toys, and textured shapes. It’s a big hit!
- She loves to eat! I think she’s really over and done with the whole baby food thing. She wants texture and flavor and excitement. Well, maybe not that exciting, but she did eat curry! Way to go baby! I think she was naturally inclined via our family to go for any bakery items, and bagels, bread, crackers, cakes, etc. are big hits with her. She also enjoys guacamole, refried beans, and rice when we go out to Mexican restaurants. She doesn’t seem too picky so far. I’m sure that will change eventually!
- If anything, Elliott is even MORE obsessed with our dog. Popper seems confused now that Elliott is starting to move around a little. She wants to play but she doesn’t like all the ear and tail pulling. Elliott loves visiting Aunt Marcie’s house because her dog, Shailey, lets her roll on top of her and pull her fur all over. Crazy kid!
- Elliott is also obsessed with other babies. She loves going to Little Gym class. Sometimes one of the crawlers in the class will come over and hold hands with her and it’s better than Christmas. 
She also loves her cousin Brody, which can be a little rough on the poor kid as she likes to show her love through face grabbing and the occasional hair pulling. He’s a little trooper though and keeps coming back to give hugs and kisses to his cousin “Eh – i – ut.”
- Another huge development step for her is putting herself to sleep at night. We were still swaddling her up until the beginning of this month. Then she outgrew letting us rock her to sleep at night so we started sleep training for real. It was tough at first but it is so nice now to just read her a story at night, give her a bottle and then set her down in bed. Most nights she doesn’t really cry at all. It’s a little tougher during the day to get her to go down for naps. Probably because it isn’t as dark and she is distracted by all her toys. She usually rolls around the bed for awhile and ends up upside down surrounded by teddy bears before she finally gives in.
- This last one might not be something to be proud of, but whatever. She loves Sesame Street. She kind of phases in and out when they cut to segments that are boring for her, but whenever Murray or Elmo are on the screen, she is riveted. It’s become a nice little routine for us to sit and watch a little of the show while she eats some breakfast. (She usually steals half my bagel in the mornings.) Also, our local PBS channel has a montage of babies playing in the snow and she LOVES it. She always gets a huge grin on her face when she sees all the kids playing.
I’m really loving my job of being home with her more and more. It can be exhausting some (most) days but it’s totally worth it. I may not being doing everything the “right” way, and I often feel like I’m figuring stuff out way later than I’m supposed to, but I’m doing my best! Elliott seems happy and healthy so I can’t be doing too bad of a job! We’re learning all this together and I think that’s bonding too.
love, Christina
p.s. This is the bookshelf Mom got Elliott for Christmas. I wanted her to see it in the room. Thanks Mom!!
