We’re having so much fun participating in activities with you and taking you to new places. I’d seen an add for a Children’s Museum up here in Breckenridge and we took you today. It is such a perfect place for you. The museum is obviously designed for a wide range of ages, but many of the activities can be tailored for you – arts and crafts with some help, puppet show put on by me and your father for you, slide into the Bear Cave where your dad caught you and played with you – and there’s also a tot corner with games perfect for you. We were there for at least a couple of hours, and we all had so much fun watching you. You just played and played and played, never once getting fussy. This museum is free for children under 1 year and for seniors, so your nana and papa are excited to take you here this winter while your dad and I ski. So fun!

Yesterday Rachel watched both Isla and you at our house. Kristen, Isla’s mom, and I decided to take you to your first music class yesterday afternoon. So I drove you both there and you both fell asleep on the way. I was a little conflicted because I’d been so excited to take you to the class, but I also wanted you to sleep. Luckily, I didn’t have to make any decisions because you woke up right when we arrived.

We walked into the house and it was filled with kids and adults, musical instruments and singing, and the cheerful babble of children and babies. It was so fun to watch you take it all in; you were enthralled watching everyone. Right away someone handed us a drum and we banged on it together, but you were more interested in just watching everyone else. You seemed to really like the class and I’m excited to take you again.

We had your nine-month doctor appointment today, and we found at that you are teeny, tiny but healthy. You’re still long and very skinny, measuring now in just the third percentile for weight and 65th percentile for length. The doctor isn’t concerned, but it startled me how little you weighed and that you’d dropped a bit in the percentiles. She encouraged us to start introducing foods much more rapidly, and even to add butter or oil to some of your foods. We’re working diligently to get you fattened up, but as she pointed out, you are so active that you burn through all the calories we’re giving you.

It is amazing all that your nana does with you during the days, and how quickly you learn things. I can’t keep track of the times I’ve come home from work and she’ll have something new to show me that you have learned or that you two have done together. About a month ago she taught you how to drop the little, colored balls into the toy, which in turn makes it light up and make a sound. It seems like that’s a skill that would require pretty good dexterity, and I’m still surprised at how quickly you became proficient at this game.

Today I came home and she said that you love the new ball I bought you over the weekend. She excitedly directed me to come and watch your new trick. She sat on the floor, facing you, and rolled the ball to you. And you corralled it in your legs and into your awaiting arms, where you scooped it up. Then you would put it on the ground and roll it back to her. I’m still in awe at how quickly you learned to do this.

Today was Election Day, and I was so excited to watch the results roll in. At one point during the night I thought about the implications of this election on you, and I realized that by the next election you’ll be almost five years old. You’ll have a firm grasp on who the President is, and his role, and even what an election is. So amazing to think all that you and we will experience by the time the next presidential Election Day rolls around.

Tonight you went to bed around 7, but woke up at 9. We had a hard time getting you back down, and it was right at the height of the announcements of results for many key states. Maybe you, like us, just didn’t want to sleep until you knew who our country’s leader would be for the next four years.

This evening I decided that I wanted to get the seeds out of the pumpkins. We never did get them carved in time for Halloween, but I really wanted to at least bake the seeds. I thought it’d be a fun activity for you to help me with. I laid out plastic on the ground, your dad cut off the tops, and I sat you down with the two pumpkins and a couple of spoons. I thought you’d dive right in with your hands, but you were more intrigued by the pumpkin tops, and even tried multiple times to eat the spiky stem! After a little while you reached into the bowl containing the seeds, touched them, immediately pulled your hands away and with wide eyes, just stared at them in surprise at their cold sticky texture. After a few seconds you dove back in with much less trepidation, and continued to play and try to eat them for awhile.

AFter this adventure you were a mess and needed a bath. Bath time has continually become more and more chaotic in proportion with you becoming more and more active and mobile. It’s a stressful, painful time where your dad or I lean precariously over the tub for the entire event, constantly keeping our hands hovering around you and ready to catch you the instant you try to stand. Long gone are the days where you just sit placidly and let us wash you down. By the end of every bath my knees and back ache, I’m all wet, and I’m exhausted; you, however, seem all wound up and more riled up than when we began.

Tonight I decided to try a new approach and I climbed in the tub with you. I was able to sandwich you in my legs, which mostly enabled me to keep you sitting and upright with much less effort than is possible when I’m outside the tub. And this new method has the added benefit of me getting to take a bath, to sit back and enjoy the time with you rather than wrangling you the whole time, and I even got to relax and enjoy a beer while you safely played. I think we’ve definitely found our new bathing style.

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.

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.

Today we had a classic, perfect, fun day with you. We took you to the CU game where you contentedly hung out in the Baby Bjorn carrier for the bulk of the first half, then ate and napped for over a quarter.

Because of the poor performance of CU and in no way because you were tiring of the game, we departed and headed to Southern Sun for a beer. At the bar we held you and fed you, and you played and sat and crawled around. It’s so fun having you along for these family adventures.

We decided to head to a local park and take some pictures before the last of the fall leaves have disappeared and in honor of your upcoming nine month birthday. I had a hard time picking an outfit for you to wear, and I drove your father crazy in the process. I suppose you, too, were sick of the multitude of outfit changes. But in the end I settled for jeans and the little yellow sweater from nana.

At the park there were lots of birds nearby, providing background music for our photo session. You are so aware and observant, and you turned your head in the direction of the sounds and just looked and listened for many minutes. I love your curiousness, your alertness, and your desire to take in the world around you. I hope you keep these traits forever, never becoming immune to the beauty surrounding you.

You’ve already had a fair share of minor spills, dating months back to that first time you surprised us both by rolling over from your belly to your back before either you or I could cushion your head from the floor. As you became more proficient at rolling, and then at sitting and now at standing your falls occur less and less frequently. Now, you almost never fall over from a sitting position. The one exception is when you get really excited you wave your arms and hands about, so vigorously that on numerous times you’ve knocked yourself over.

In the past two months you’ve become very adept at pulling yourself to standing and at getting yourself back down to sitting. I can’t ever recall seeing you fall while learning this, though I’m sure you have. But today, you fell and knocked your head not once or twice, but three times. And all three times resulted in a bump on your head! I cannot believe that to date you’ve made it this far (thank goodness) without any bumps or bruises, and then today you’ve ended up with three. I assume that you’re trying to take steps or to begin your first independent standing, free of support. Regardless, it’s so alarming to see you so distraught and actually injured, that I hope you quickly get through whatever phase you’ve just entered.