9 months…and Daycare!

It was the tiniest thing I ever decided to put my whole life into. ~Terri Guillemets

Lila’s 9th month….what a month it was! Lets see…. where to begin…..well Ill start off by saying that the monthly frog pics are getting harder and harder to get.  She now realizes she can get off the frog and there is just “no time for pictures mom!” there were approximately 3 pictures of her looking at the camera – but luckily she is one of the cutest. kids. ever. so we got a good one 😉  I do think that she has really changed in the past month…she seems more in control of her body, she can sit up, she is starting to look like a little lady…..it still takes my breath away a bit to think how just 9 months ago she was this little blob that didn’t even span the length of  the frog and now shes her own little person!

At this months check-up LK weighed in at 20lbs 4 oz (75% percentile) and was 29″ (90th percentile).  He said we were right on track developmentally and she looked great – he is always impressed with how well she is doing given how early she was. We don’t go back until 12 months!

This month our little nosey girl got more nosey! She is really aware of what is going on and wants whatever we are eating, doing, drinking – and she wants it all a once! She still isn’t “officially” crawling yet – meaning she isnt making us chase her yet….. She gets up on all fours and in a VERY uncoordinated fashion inches forward.  She has actually got much better in the last week since starting daycare (more on that in a bit!)….I’m sure she is just trying to show up all the other kids 🙂    She is experimenting with pulling up on us, but doesn’t quite get that she can do that with other stationary objects. She LOVES to be walked around, if all else fails and she is being a cranky pants if we let her walk around “on her own” she is all smiles.   Because she is so nosey, she does pretty well when we take her out and about – as long as she can do some people watching and look around we can get a few hours out of her!

Food wise she is still holding strong at 4 bottles of formula and three solid meals a day. We practice with finger foods at dinner or when we go out to eat – sometimes she really gets it and eats like a mad woman, and sometimes she just puts food in, gags in a dramatic fashion, and then whines until we bring out the purees.  I can definitely tell she is getting it more within the last week or so – on the nights she “gets it” she wants to do it herself and wont let us put the bits in her mouth.  All the foods we are giving her are still pretty soft and mushy – I think once she gets more teeth we will try some more “solid” solid finger foods!

So the big news for the month is we officially started day care this month! For those that don’t know, we were very blessed that Chris’s grandmother was able to watch LK for the last 6 months since I went back to work.  Before Lila decided to get all crazy and  grace us with her presence 2 months early, we had planned to enroll her in daycare when I went back to work. But with her being a preemie and all the worry we had as first time parents, we weren’t comfortable with our original plan. (Side note –  you should NOT be able to decide on a daycare when 8 weeks pregnant with your first child.) Luckily, the timing was right and Mamaw was able to love, squeeze and spoil Lila  every day while we were at work.  We always said we would enroll her in daycare in the summer – we both really think the right daycare can be really beneficial to a child – but it was a really tough decision for us when that time came! We decided to just put her on our first choice daycare list and see what happened…. If she got in… great! if not…. it wasnt the time! Well….she got in – in June.  We kind of thought it would be August or September…..Chris and I werent emotionally ready for June!

So we decided to wait until July (a very expensive decision – but so worth it!).  The first day was pretty nerve racking for me, but I’m happy to report that she is doing SO well! I was super emotional leaving her…not that I thought I wouldn’t be worried or nervous but the waterworks that ensued when I walked out of that room really suprised me!

So far I think she really likes it and her teachers say she is the sweetest thing (umm…of course!) Its a definite change for Chris and I as well – I believe we spend more time prepping her for the next school day than we do for ourselves – so much stuff to take each day….geesh!

Well this post got away from me, I guess what I’m trying to get at in my novel is – Lila’s 9th month has been really awesome….I think she gets more fun each day.  Each month I think ” this is my favorite time….” – only to be out done the next month, so I’m ready month 10 – bring it on!

Much Love – Christy