You turned nine months old today and you shared the special day with your brother, Guinness’, ten-year birthday. We didn’t do too much to celebrate, though I did have a fun photo shoot with you outside.

9 month old in the leaves

Two birthday kids

This past month you have perfected standing; you’re able to do it for minutes at a time, to get yourself up and then back down to sitting when you’ve had enough, and to walk up and down a piece of furniture while holding on. You still mostly belly crawl, though you have been spotted doing the more traditional crawl every once in awhile. You can make very good time crawling, and before we realized it you’d taught yourself to go both up and down the little step into the breakfast nook. You’ve also discovered the kitchen cabinets, and you love opening them and pulling things out. Your favorite is the Tupperware cabinet, though I let you play in a few others which contain relatively benign objects. You really like to pull out and shake the bag of rice, which generally is a fine activity for you except for the other day when I looked and you’d found a second, non-zippered bag. You were gleefully shaking your arms up and down, creating showers of rice all around you. I think it’s time for baby-proofing.

You are still as curious as always, perhaps even more so now that you can efficiently get yourself to almost anything you’d like to investigate. You’re very perceptive and notice when something is new or different. Your nana tied a string onto one of your toys to make the pull string longer, and every time you use that toy now you study the new string and the knot connecting it to the old one. Last night I pulled down the three supports on the bottom of the Exercauser to make it more stable, and you immediately crawled over to it and started pulling at and studying the supports.

You’re also developing a sweet little personality and we’re beginning to see a bit of a stubborn side. You make it very clear what you want, and very clear when you do not get what you want. We’re finding ourselves having to say ‘no’ to you as you’re getting into things that we don’t want you in or, most recently, as you’re continually undoing your diaper or taking off your socks as we’re trying to change you. Life is so fun and such an adventure with you, and it’s so fun watching your personality develop.

Happy nine months, my sweet, active, inquisitive, strong, strong-willed, and adorable Emma.