How did my little baby get to be 9 months old? Suddenly (or not-so-suddenly – it’s been on my mind for a while) I need to start thinking about their birthday party. Den thinks I’m ridiculous for even thinking about it so early, but he is male; I’m pretty sure they think anything further out than a week in advance is unnecessary.

Ember started crawling this week. She’s been pushing up for a while now, reaching for things and scooting backwards. Finally she figured out how to get those knees to move. She’s not the kind of kid to just take off, but she’s quite pleased that now she can crawl a few feet to reach something she wants. She doesn’t really do more than she feels she needs to and she’s not into exploring yet. I appreciate her restraint. [Of course the day after I wrote this she started crawling around with great aplomb, feeling very pleased with herself.]

The eating thing seems to be making progress, but she’s still “behind” what other kids her age are eating. She now shows an active interest in eating and puts everything in her mouth – an annoying but necessary stage of babyhood. However she has a very strong gag reflex and she’s just not good at eating anything with chunky texture. She’s stopped gagging on purees at least. But any bits that get stuck on her tongue she just starts gagging, sounding like she’s going to throw up everywhere, until I get it out of her mouth. Unfortunately getting things out of her mouth also triggers her gag reflex and she’s thrown up milk on me many times during this exchange (usually when I’m trying to pull some kind of fluff out of her mouth). She makes a face and doesn’t seem terribly impressed by Kate’s old favorites: apples, pears, sweet potato, squash. She really went nuts for the salmon and chicken I gave her (mashed up into tiny pieces), and today she seemed to actually enjoy peas. I find that weird, but whatever works for her.

She still nurses about the same as always. Sshe goes long stretches during the day without eating, nursing a lot before her nap and bedtime… both sides to take up. Nursing her in public is pretty much futile, she cranes her head around while clamped on my nipple (ow) or just refuses to latch at all. She’s way too nosy! We’ve started a little bit of acrobatics while nursing too… pushing against me with her hands and legs. Especially the legs, she’s always kicking and grabbing her feet. I haven’t been able to read a book or use my phone while nursing in a long time, as not only does it distract her but she uses her arms to flail around and hit things and grab whatever is close. It’s like I nurse an octopus… she suddenly grows extra limbs, I think.

Sleep during the day is great, though she takes only one nap a day it’s usually a 3+ hour nap. This works for me because both girls sleep at the same time. At night she’s definitely ready for bed when Kate is. Kate’s bedtime is in flux because some days she naps and some days she doesn’t, but I don’t like putting Ember to bed before Kate because of the risk of the noisy child waking up the sleeping one and the fact that sometimes it takes me a while to get Ember to sleep. She’s now sleeping in her crib with the side off the front, pushed up against my bed. It’s convenient like a cosleeper while giving us both our own room. I usually still nurse her to sleep, and since I totally suck at putting down a sleeping baby without waking them up (seriously, is this a skill my genes left out?) I put her in it then lean over her and nurse her to sleep. Sometimes if she’s tired but giggling and playing I’ll just leave her there and she falls asleep so I know she’s capable of it if she’s in the right mood. (But if I try it in the wrong mood she gets all ticked off.) She’s still waking several times a night and once I’m asleep I just pull her in bed with me. Because I am lazy. This is also why I can’t tell you how many times she wakes up at night, my brain just doesn’t register anything after about 2am. I do feel like we’re disturbing her sleep, but we’re not ready to move her in with Kate yet so we’re just stuck with it. Eh, it’s not that big of a deal to me.

She claps at everything now (especially if you say “Yay!”), blows raspberries at Denis when he whistles to her. She loves banging toys/blocks together and on one another, and uses a drum stick (or whatever object she is holding) to bang on the drum. She’s somehow figured out how to grab the “pen” of Kate’s magnetic drawing board and scribble, she’s quite fascinated by that. When left in the living room she inevitably scoots over to the shelf and pulls down any buckets of toys that weren’t already pulled down by big sister… so basically there’s always a giant pile of toys/stuff in my living room. She also likes to sit in front of Kate’s kitchen and open and close doors. Of course the best toys are Kate’s – specifically whatever Kate is playing with right this second. Especially when Kate brings out the flash cards or stickers Ember is absolutely determined to crawl over and grab whatever it is out of Kate’s hands. (Usually ends with Ember winning and Kate crying, or Kate yanking it away saying, “NO, mine!” Ember usually doesn’t react to that, just keeps trying.)

She’s not a clingy child at all, but I’ve noticed she’s starting to look for and cry for me if she’s tired or hungry or overwhelmed… and now that she’s mobile she’s trying to scoot over to me if I am nearby. There are some things that only mama can fix! She loves to be tickled and kissed, she collapses forward into a giggling heap on my chest – I wish I could freeze her like that for a while! She’s just started throwing herself backwards when she’s on my bed, cackling like a crazed thing.

I wish I got to spend more one on one time with her, because right now unless Den is home and occupying Kate I always have both of them together. Kate gets time with me when Ember is napping/sleeping in; no such luck for Ember. I’m looking forward to the fall when Kate will start preschool so I can start doing things just with Ember.