Picking out peacocks: Mobile baby

We have a mobile baby, folks. And boy does she keep me busy. But she sure is the cutest.

Selah learned to crawl about 2 weeks ago, roughly at 8.5 months old. She started crawling right after Caleb left for work. She continued to learn the rest of the morning; she was super cautious and very slow. Later that afternoon, she refused to crawl.
Hmm. Odd.
I assumed that when a baby learned to crawl, they'd be off...gone in a flash... see ya mom! I've got staircases to explore, dangerous objects to pull over and all sorts of unknown crumb like specs to put in my mouth.
Not quite the case with my daughter. I even tried moving all her toys away from her to try and entice her to continue practicing. She simply looked all around her to see if anything, anything else was within reach for her to grab. Sadly, there was nothing within reach. So the little squirt began playing peek-a-boo with her clothes. Silly girl. When life gives her lemons, she already knows how to make lemonade.

But the next day, she continued crawling and since then, hasn't looked back. And now we're back to exploring and ultimately finding dangerous objects to pull over. It's no wonder one of baby's first words is "no." I'm constantly telling Selah, "No no Selah." "No, we cannot play with the cords." "No no, we do not touch the fireplace." Poor girl. I want her to be able to explore. There's just one too many things in our home that are off-limits because their potentially dangerous. Sometimes I think she looks at me like, "Can I play with this mom? Or is this a no-no too?" Even when it's a no-no, she still goes for it. It's like she knows she can't have it but wants it anyway. I have to remember, my precious, sweet baby girl was born a little sinner. Ohhh what a responsibility we have as her parents to teach her! Yikes!

Selah turned 9 months old this past weekend. I've done a pitiful job at keeping you updated on her monthly growth and developments. So, I'll lump it all in one post. The last time I posted she was 5 months old! Oops!

- She weighs a whopping 17 lbs 7 oz.
- She's tried lots of different foods. Banana, avocado, blueberries, mango, papaya, peaches, pears, apples, butternut squash, sweet potato, peas, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, chicken. I still really enjoy making her food. We are trying to transition to finger foods. She gags easily, so it'll be a slow process.
- She can crawl.
- She can pull herself up.
- She's learning how to get back down, which sometimes she forgets how to do so.
- We sleep trained for the second time and within a week, we could lay her down awake and she'd put herself to sleep. YAY!
- However, the crawling milestone combined with separation anxiety, has led to a sudden abandonment of putting herself down for naps. At least I got a few weeks out of her putting herself down.
- She has good weeks of sleeping through the night and bad weeks where she'll wake and be up for 1-2 hours in the middle of the night, and at times, it seems impossible to get her back down. Those are very difficult and trying nights.
- She loves to see her daddy when he comes home from work.
- She claps and waves.
- She learned to drink from a straw.
- She can place rings on its holder and put shapes into the shape sorter.
- She likes turning pages in her books.
- She is having an aversion to diaper changes.
- She says da-da A LOT but we still don't think she knows what it means.
- She loves kicking the soccer ball.
- She loves walking around the house with our assistance.
- Her hair still sticks straight up.
- She loves pulling things out. Not for the purpose of playing but for the sole purpose of just pulling things outs. All the blankets and burp cloths in the bin, pulled out. All the diapers in the bin, pulled out. All the toys, pulled out. All her dirty clothes in the laundry basket, pulled out. Everything sitting in her car seat like hats, mittens, coat, blanket, boots, pulled out. It's constant. And it's a lot to pick up. We'll have to teach her the Clean Up song sooner rather than later.

Boy are we smitten with this little girl. I get super emotional thinking that her 1st birthday is just around the corner. How do we have a 9 month old already? In just 3 short months, we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday. *Sigh* In the meantime, as tiring as it is, I'm enjoying chasing my little peanut around, playing with her, watching her explore and learn. And there are times I stop throughout the week and just stare at her and think, Wow... what a gift. I can't believe how much I love this little tiny person. I can't imagine my life without her.

Happy 9 months Selah Grace.