9 months

April has many friends her age and there is no doubt that she is the “Polly Pocket” of the group.  Dubbed this by my friend Amanda (whose son, 3 weeks April’s elder, is huge), it just fits.  There is no doubt about it, our lady is a bit of a peanut – dainty and petite.  This was confirmed today at her 9 month well-check.  The official stats are in:  height = 26.75″ (25%), weight = 15 pounds 6 ounces (less than 5%), head = 43 cm (less than 25%).  Our doctor isn’t concerned as this is close enough the to growth curve that she has been on.  I’m not concerned either.  Neither of our kids appear to be high on the growth charts, yet they are both very healthy.

Her latest trick is pulling up which she has been doing since Monday.  Much to our surprise, she continues to use full army crawling as her means of relocation.  Sometimes she’ll pick her belly up and rock, but she just doesn’t seem to quite have the coordination yet for “normal” crawling.  Again, I’m surprised at how similar she is to Abe here.  Abe pulled up for the first time right at 9 months and didn’t start “normal” crawling until 9 1/2 months.  I joked when I was pregnant with April that even though my mind knew that siblings are night and day different, my gut was really expecting just a modified version of Abe.  The more she grows, the more surprised I get at how similar she is in development, and even personality, to Abe (thus far of course).

Hands down our biggest challenge with her is solid foods.  Some weeks it seems she’ll eat a reasonable amount, but then we’ll have a week (like this one) where she seems to nurse almost exclusively.  Quite frustrating, but again, much like her big brother.  Today, our doctor said, “She really needs to be eating 3 meals a day.”  I’d like to see her come and make a baby eat!  While we’re on the eating topic, she talks quite loudly, and this happens most often at the dinner table; she likes to join in on the conversations.  She still only has two teeth but I’m guessing some more bottom ones will be cutting soon.  She does fine with strangers when I’m not around.  However, the second she hears my voice or sees me, all she wants is Mom.  Dad works just as well too.

Such a precious joy our sweat pea is!!