Estelle's nine month update

January 07, 2017

Estelle's nine month update

Nine months ago we had this beautiful little squish. Nine months before that, she became part of our lives. Same time in as out!

She's currently in one of my favorite baby stages. So much personality is coming through but she's still so sweet. And! Bonus, she has little to no agency of her own. Choices are a hard (and beautiful) thing. At nine months she's not an infant, but also isn't making choices or having fits, no strong will to navigate.

Estelle will have little meltdowns when extremely tired. She arches her back and kicks. She'll frantically flail her arms if you get too close. It's so cute and innocent compared to the monster of fits I know await as she grows. So, for now, it's pretty dang endearing.

Stellie is a little bit of a goofball. She loves to have fun. She dances to any music. It could be Indie's absent minded humming, Pandora, a singing toy, or me. She stops what she's doing and rocks on all fours, shakes her head, twists her hands or bounces/kicks off of you. She's danced since she was a teeny infant. What's even more awesome is she's usually spot on to the beat. Estelle also tries to sing along on occasion.

Stella signs 'all done', high fives, and throws her hands over her head when you say 'sooo big'. She lights up whenever anyone claps, wondering what grand thing she has done to deserve the applause. If you say 'ohh blankey, ' or 'so nice' she'll lay her head down.

I know she's only 9 months, but I swear she can say the word 'hi'. She waves constantly and says it to all of us (and her stuffed animals on occasion). I'm not crazy! Guys, my baby's just a talking prodigy.

Estelle loves to play the 'get back here' game. She'll start crawling away and you tell her to come back...here...as you probably could have guessed from the clever title of our game. The fun part though is when you say it Stella stops dead in her tracks and side eyes you from the left and the right with a huge grin. Then she jets off.

Ever since the day she was born, Estelle's most favorite position has been laying chest to chest. I love that as she's grown this hasn't changed. She snugs in all the time, especially around nap or bedtime. She also loves kisses.

For naps, I lay Estelle on my chest and sing songs to her as we rock. She lays so still. It's one of my favorite moments to be a parent to her. To feel her teeny body so warm, breathing in and out. She's so trusting and loving. I love feeling so connected by such a small act.

Stellie likes sitting on your lap to read books. She will sit so still. Her favorite books are of the touch and feel genre. If there is ever something with hair or fur to touch, she will grasp it and try her hardest to rip it out. She's started doing this to the hair over her ears too, and to my hair. Not my favorite, strangely enough. Damon's lucky, he foresaw this obsession, I'm sure and got out while he could.

Stella's learned how to crawl on her hands and knees. When upstairs she always jets to the stairs, with speed unmatched. Damon had not yet witnessed the speed and stealth of our baby when presented with steps. Although I warned him, he forgot as he set her down to get her bath ready. Next thing you know we all heard horrible echoes of thumps down the staircase as her little body tumbled down the whole flight, crashing to a stop at the bottom. We were lucky she first collided with Damon's work boot, and not the corner of our metal shoe rack. Estelle was okay, just a small red bump over her ear. She was more scared than anything. It was very saddy for all.

Sleep is going great. She gets up once in the early morning for a feeding, around 5:30-6:30. She takes about a 2 hour morning nap and is trying to cut out her afternoon one. She likes to kick her crib as she's falling asleep. Which is too bad for our poor neighbors whose bedroom wall she borders.

Estelle always loves to shove all the things in her mouth. Especially if Indie is showing an interest in it. She loves balls and is obsessed with my phone. She already knows to scroll with her finger. I can't do anything with my phone with her chubby little arms in reaching distance. Or rather her little eyes in seeing distance because seeing distance becomes reaching distance in seconds.

Stella loves to chill on her side, like a little french model. It cracks us up. It's especially cute when she lounges on her side, a huge pile of snacks in front of her. She'll leisurely dip into the pile and place it delicately in her already bulging cheeks. I'm constantly surprised how much food Estelle needs to be happy and fed. It's not uncommon for her to out eat Indie at meals.