Nine Months

Sweet baby Sophie,

At nine months, you are an avid oral explorer, expertly grasping any new object within reach to insert in your mouth and inspect its contours with your tongue. You love round balls, paper tags, wooden puzzle pieces, small blocks and plastic cups. You covet Mommy's cell phone and coffee mug, but more than anything, you want to give the screen of Mommy's laptop a sloppy wet kiss and tap on the keyboard with your thumbs.

You're a little more cautious when it comes to crawling. You're happy to lunge for objects just out of reach, but you're a little hesitant to walk on all fours. You get in position, then scoot backwards till you're back on your bottom and sitting on the floor once more.

Your moods are like clockwork: all smiles in the morning but a little bit fussy before naps and at night. You're eating solid foods now and love cheerios more than anything else. You really want to feed yourself, even though you can't get the spoon in your mouth with much precision.

You're not one for cuddles unless you're very, very tired or sick. You like new places and new faces; you don't cling to Mom and Dad even a bit. You'll sit still in your car seat or a high chair, although you won't in sit still in our laps. But even though you're stretching your independence, you like for us to stay near and watch.

And so we do.