Nine Month Checkup and Other Baby Girl News

I took Keira in for a very belated nine month checkup on March 3. I took the above picture on March 4. She was a week away from ten months. I can't believe it -- time is flying by, too fast. It seems impossible to soak up all of her babyhood, as I feel like I'm always running to keep both kids happy and the house looking at least decent.

Everyone keeps telling me what a big baby she is, but the growth charts at the doctor told a surprisingly different story. She stretched 28 inches, which is the 51%. She weighed 20 lb. and 8 oz. which was the 64%. The one area she was decidedly big in (as her brother always is) was her head circumference. Her head measured 46 1/2 cm, which is the 95%.

This age is so fun. She's turning into more of a little person with each day that passes. She's still talking up a storm. In Disney World, she added "bye bye" and "uh-oh" to her repertoire, by copying me. At first, she seemed to say them whenever she wanted, but now the contexts are accurate and they are probably her two favorite words. She still says, "mama", "dada" and "Ee-ii", but she no longer says duck or cat. Instead, she calls all animals "bow" or "bow-wow". It started over at Dendi's house with their dog Bunny. She started calling Bunny "bow", I think it came from one of her favorite books, "Moo, Baa, La La La". There's a page that reads, "Some other dogs say bow wow wow. " She always grins a huge toothy grin and says, "bow wow wow" with me. I think it stuck.

She's very fascinated by all animals, and as most babies do she tends to grab tails and fur rather than petting gently. Unfortunately for Keira, once the animals figure that out, they try to maintain their distance. One day at Dendi's house, after Keira had tried leaping out of our hands and lunging at the kitties repeatedly, to no avail, Scott had a brilliant idea. He gave Keira the treat bag to play with. When the cats heard the sound of rattling treats they came running. Of course, Scott tried to mediate the petting as much as possible.


Keira got her sixth tooth on Saturday, and now that she's over her cold she's happy to play again. Her favorite place to play is on the floor, although she does do short stints in her play place and high chair while I'm busy in the kitchen.

Here's a picture of her where she spends most of her time while she's at home, on the letter mat, with her toys.


Here are some pictures of Keira at Dendi's house playing with her favorite toy. It was a hit with baby Eli, too. The last picture shows her looking up at me from her toy -- I just love her sweet expression.




She went through a fierce stranger, danger period, as Eli did. Although, she generally wants people talking, waving and looking at her. She just had no interest in being held by anyone one but Scott and I. I think it broke the grandmas' hearts a little. Fortunately, I think she has recovered a bit, and within the last week went to Dendi, Grammie and Aunt Seana. Sometimes, it still takes a little time for her to warm up, but she's improved a lot. While she has warmed up to others, she still seems to be most comfortable, and have the biggest smiles when she's in my arms.




Keira's still not crawling or eating food. In terms of crawling, she seems as close to walking as she does crawling. In the last few days, she's gotten on all fours, and taken a few "steps" forward with her hands. On the other hand, she loves to be on her feet, where she's quite stable. She even tries to take some wobbly steps while someone is firmly holding on to her. She seems most excited about her walking progress and grins wildly as if to say, "Look what a big girl I am!"

On the food front, we've had a few promising moments, but generally the same old story. Over the weekend, while we were over at Dendi's house we all enjoyed cookies that Eli had helped bake for dessert. To keep her occupied while I eat, I often give her some food to play with. She never puts it in her mouth, but I figure she's having a tactile experience, if nothing else. But, with the cookies it was a different story. Suddenly, I looked down, and she was happily licking and gnawing on the cookie. I was impressed, but when I tried to transfer the success to other food, no luck. I gave her teether biscuits which she promptly threw on the floor, and she still acts like I'm trying to poison her when I give her food on a spoon.

Grammie's Birthday Dinner

I finally borrowed Grammie's camera to download these pictures, but I'm over a month late in posting these. Oh well, I guess better late than never...

Uncle Brian, Aunt Seana, Grammie and the four of us met at Outback on February 4th for Grammie's birthday dinner. We all had a great time, although, it was way past Keira's bedtime. For the last half of the evening, Scott rocked, shushed and held her in the sling so she could snooze. I have such a good husband -- it let me do a little more visiting.

Disney World, Part III: The Magic Kingdom

We spent two fun filled days at the Magic Kingdom on this trip. The first day was COLD, it was almost too cold to stay. But, we did our best, and after buying Eli an extra thick Disney fleece we survived. First, Eli and Daddy drove the cars. At first, Scott drove and Eli loved it. Then, on their second drive, Eli decided to drive. That turned out to be a mistake. The cars are very difficult to steer, and while Daddy was filming, the car was bang, bang, banging on the guide rail. Eli was not a fan of the shaking or the loud noise. We moved on...



For many of the rides, Eli and Scott went together, while Keira and I walked around. As I said before, she took three naps a day in the sling. While happily walking around the Magic Kingdom, I realized that in at least one way I'm turning into my mom. I remember that when I was a kid, my mom would often hang out on Main Street, sit on a bench and people watch, or browse through the many stores. Even though she always assured us that she was enjoying herself, I never understood. Now, I totally get it. I had a wonderful time walking around "the happiest place on Earth." I especially liked walking through Frontierland, Adventureland and Main Street. But, of course, I do still love to go on rides, too. As a family, we went on quite a few rides together including: Winnie the Pooh, The People Movers, which we rode several times and where Eli pretended to nap...



... The Big Train that goes around the park...


... It's a small world (Keira had been sleeping on Daddy in the sling and woke up to experience her first Magic Kingdom ride)...


Two things that worked out much better than I imagined were waiting in lines and taking two kids all around the park. Last year, when we went to the Magic Kingdom, we used the stroller more as a locker than as a means of transport. We carried Eli a lot, which was okay since Scott and I could take turns. But, I couldn't imagine how that would work this time with two kids to carry. Fortunately, Eli enjoyed his stroller this time and even used it for some down time to veg out and look at his maps. He even took a great nap in it the second day at Magic Kingdom.



Both kids did well waiting in the lines, and one of Eli's favorite diversions was his Buzz Lightyear "rocket". Even though Eli was scared of Buzz Lightyear before we got to the Magic Kingdom, Scott convinced him to ride it, and it turned out to be his very favorite ride. We fastpassed it again and again. Keira and I even rode it a few times.


While I did spend a lot of time holding Keira while the boys went on rides together, whenever possible I tried to carve out some "Special Mommy/Eli Time". First, we went on Dumbo together which he absolutely loved. I wasn't sure what he would think as he can be a little shy or worried about things, but once Dumbo was airborn, Eli was grinning ear to ear. He positively lit up. It was wonderful to see. We took this next picture on the still, photo op Dumbo after the ride, but you can still see how much he loved the ride.


Then, we went on Goofy's Barnstormer together, which was Eli's first roller coaster. He was not a fan. I think that will be his first and only roller coaster until he gets a little bigger. But, he was really excited to ride it. As I've said before, Eli loves water towers, so while looking at pictures of Disney World before our trip, he had found two water towers on Goofy's Barnstormer. Scottie even took a picture of the water tower in front of the ride that Eli's already looked at a few times since we got back. But, even the presence of the water towers didn't make the roller coaster any more fun for him. He said it was too fast.


But, we did have some great Mommy/Eli time on the way to, and waiting in line for the Barnstormer.



Then, as a way to recover from our roller coaster experience, we played at the Toontown playground for a little while. Much to Eli's delight, when he asked if I would climb through the tunnels with him, I said yes. He thought it was absolutely hilarious. Not only did the playground help to blow off some steam, it also made Scottie and I realize how much Eli had grown since the first time we came to the Magic Kingdom. Eli was about 21 mos. old. He was careful, wobbly and slow. This time, the playground almost seemed too small for him as he bounded around. He was fearless, going down the slides "superman style".




Eli said something on our drive home that confirmed to me how important it is to have special time together. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late lunch and we started talking about his birthday party. He said, "Mommy are you going to be there, or are you going to have to be walking around with Keira?" Gulp. I assured him that I would be at his party, and Scott told him that he would take Keira so that I could spend all my time with him. Wow, that almost broke my heart...