Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Confidence Abounds

Brooklynn is getting more and more confident each day. She is so sure of herself and her movements. I love it. Even though I don't love that my "baby" was prematurely ripped from my arms. Is it wrong to tie her up so that can't get anymore independant? But I really do enjoy watching her each day as she explores and learns. She absolutely LOVES exploring her surroundings and testing her limits. 
She is starting to show an avid skill for climbing. She will climb anything that is ground level, or use anything ground level to climb onto something higher. She is also starting to figure out to get off of the things she climbs without falling on her face (which she has done a number of times). If the object she climbed was small she will get on her hunches and put her hands on the ground and walk herself off that way. Pretty smart cookie! If I am sitting indian style by the couch she will climb into my lap and then get up on my knee and use that as a step stool to get herself on the couch. Once there she loves to run back and forth and go right to the edge of the chaise and peer over and then she will just step off! For the past few weeks we have pretty much kept a hand in hers to help her "jump" off, but now she will just step off and she is getting pretty good at landing on her feet.
Walking across the couch
A little help from Daddy as she dove off the
couch! This little one has no fear!
Up she goes...
oops, now my leg is stuck!
We let her enjoy some "naker" time in the evening before bed. It's amazing how happy she gets when we remove some clothes! And she loves to be a part in the removing of her clothes. I will usually unsnap her onesie and take one of her arms out and she does the rest. It's pretty funny to watch because as she's pulling the onesie over her head she is stumbling around until she is able to get it off her head. After which she enjoys carrying her clothes around for awhile.
She is super amazing at opening drawers, including the drawer under the oven, and doors. She is even starting to figure out how to open the pocket door that leads to the kitchen. Pretty soon we won't be able to keep her out of anything! 
She continues to love books and will bring them to me periodically throughout the day to read. I use the term "read" loosely because she really just wants you to hold the book while she turns the pages.
She loves the remote and will point it at the TV and push buttons. Usually it's pointed the wrong way and she looks at me wondering why nothing is happening.

I love watching her figure things out and enjoy how smart she is getting each day. The other day I hid something from her under a couch pillow. I didn't think that she saw me do it, but not even 30 seconds later she was climbing over my lap to reach under the pillow. It used to be "out of sight, out of mind." I took the same thing from her and put it in a different place and when she realized it was gone she went back to the pillow and was a little upset that she didn't find it there.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Confessions.....

....of a 9 month old baby girl.
(First of all, 9 months?!?! Holy Cow! It is so hard to believe that she has been out almost as long as she was in. Is it really possible that we will be celebrating her first birthday in just 3 months?
How cute is this 9 month old?!?!
On to the confessions:

Brooklynn loves to "eat" her diapers. She will often take off with the clean diaper when I am trying to change her, which means that she gets a diaper covered in slobber (on the outside) on her bum. But the real confession is that she will even take her dirty diaper and gnaw on it as well. I know, GROSS! So last week I started teaching her how to throw away her diaper. It started with me carrying her to the trash can and taking the diaper out of her hands and dropping it in. I am proud to say that she will now go to the trash can when I ask her where her yuckers go and will drop the diaper in or wait for me to pick her up so she can drop it in. She is also very proud of herself and claps everytime she throws one away. 
On the move!
Speaking of clapping, Brooklynn is clapping all the time now. She first clapped the beginning of last month and then took a hiatus for about 3 weeks. She decided last week that it was time to bring back the clapping. She claps for herself whenever we tell her "good girl," she claps when she hears people cheering/clapping on tv, and she claps at random moments for reasons only she knows. And we love it!

Brooklynn is also now a waving queen. She waves "hi" and "bye" almost on demand. It is so funny to see her waving to Ellen DeGeneres when she first comes out on her show.
"HI!!"
One thing that I have been forgetting to mention is Brooklynn's fear of the vacuum. She is terrified! She didn't show any fear of the vacuum until like mid-January, in fact when we moved Brooklynn was crawling around and chasing the vacuum. Now she absolutely hates it. Sometimes when I get the vacuum out she runs from it before it is even on. She cries when I turn it on if I am not holding her and if I am holding her she whimpers and will either climb up my shoulder or bury her head in my shoulder. I've even tried to vacuum while she is sleeping and she wakes up screaming bloody murder (but she'll sleep through most everything else). She is handling it a little better the last few times I've vacuumed, so hopefully she'll grow out of it!

Brooklynn is pretty funny when she wants my attention and she is not getting it. She will get right in my face and smile at me, and sometimes I get a kiss.

She is now working on growing some fangs! That's right her top lateral incisors are both coming in now! She is getting better at letting me look at her teeth and will let me pull her upper lip back when I ask to see her teeth.
Little stinker figured out how to open her dresser drawers.



Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Life.....


....just gets in the way sometimes!!
I haven't really been doing too much lately, but I feel like I have been super busy! I've been focusing on being a good homemaker and getting things done around the house. We finally built the storage shed we bought in January for the backyard, which means that we were able to rid the house of the unnecessary clutter and I have been able to work on organizing and getting things in their proper place. I must confess that I am not the most organized person, so it is a little bit challenging for me!
Brooklynn, of course, continues to keep me busy as well. She really hasn't slowed down at all, and I don't know that she ever will! She toddles around the house all day and loves to follow me around, she is definitely a mama's girl. She loves to walk on her own when we go to the store and recently has found it funny to run away from me! I finally put away all of her 3 month clothes, she could still fit in a lot of the 3 month onsies but I decided that they had had their wear and it was time to bring out some new clothes!
This is what I see most mornings when I go get her!
All smiles and standing up waiting for me!
She's been a little cranky as of late because she's been working on tooth #3. She has her 2 bottom central incisors (one that is still not fully out) and her top lateral lateral incisor is just coming in.
She's started waving, but is pretty stingy in giving them out. She will pretty much always wave at my dad though!
Ok, so she's not waving, but she has some pretty awesome nap hair!!
She has an activity cart that my parents got her that has a shape sorter as one of the sides and she loves to push the shapes in if I place them in the hole. And she is starting to show signs of wanting to put them in the hole herself. She loves to unstack her rings and is close to putting them back on the pole.
I'm such a good walker that I can pull my cart backwards!
She loves to open and close things: doors, cupboards, drawers, which has resulted in a few pinched fingers! She is even starting to figure out how to open the pocket door to the kitchen and can open the drawer under the oven. We finally put child latches on the kitchen cupboards so now she can't pull out things I don't want her to! 

She has really gotten into books the past few weeks and will carry them around the house with her. Most of the time she just wants to turn the pages and doesn't care too much about reading the story, but occasionally we get to read a whole book! And of course she likes to eat them.
and sometimes kiss them!
Reading with P-Pa
She is a pretty good eater and eats pretty much whatever we are eating. She loves cheerios, waffles, pancakes, pasta, bread, cheese, goldfish crackers, club crackers, and yogurt. She is off and on with bananas, sweet potato, butternut squash, and yellow potatoes (all which she used to eat voraciously). Usually she eats her fruits/veggies better if I give them to her before I give her carbs! She is a little frustrating when it comes to eating because she will gobble something up one day and wont really touch it the next.
MMM...pizza!

The best thing about my almost 9 month old? She has started to be a little cuddle bug! She will run into my arms for a hug if I open them up when I am sitting on the floor. She will even spend time sitting on my lap and letting me love on her. 
Kisses for Mommy!!
I can't believe she is going to be 9 months on Monday!!!