Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Yep, she's still with us

Since I've written precious little about our daughter lately, you may get the impression we sold her to gypsies. Actually, I am a few sleepless nights away from taking just that drastic measure. Rest assured, though, she's still with us if only through the rest of this week.

Fiona had her 9 month check up last week and now weighs in at 18 pounds and is 30 inches tall. She eats like a horse, moves and climbs like a very fast monkey and sleeps like, well, whatever animal gets by on very little sleep. Is there such an animal? Seems like a pretty rotten existence to me ... a fact of which we're trying hard to convince her.

Fi is developing way faster than any baby I've ever known. The good news is that by the time the new baby arrives, she will likely be much more independent than Danny was at that age. She may even be ready for a bed a few months after No. 3 is born. She can already get herself down off of the sofa and go backward down the stairs. Unfortunately, she hasn't figured out how to turn herself around at the top of the stairs. We've had a few head-first attempts.

One hates to compare their children. Each child develops at his own pace. It is interesting, though, to see what she grasps at this age versus what Danny did. For example, Danny figured out how to tip a training cup and even his own bottle early on but took a while to figure out straws. Fi prefers straw cups and really doesn't like to tip her own drink. I'm starting to think that it's just too much effort for her highness. She climbs anything she can and hangs off the counter, the baby gate, the bookshelf or whatever else she's managed to pull herself up on. Danny still doesn't climb well - not tall enough, I think. Fi will "help" us get her dressed and undressed - that is once we catch and pin her down. She steps out of her pants. My son still doesn't always do this and he's almost three. She stands up in the middle of the floor. Danny didn't do this until after he walked. Speaking of walking, she has begun doing just that behind small chairs and has taken a step or two. I figure we're about two to three weeks from her starting to walk if she doesn't lean toward crawling just because it's faster.

Needless to say, she's into absolutely everything, except her toys. I think we're probably going to have to hang our Christmas tree from the ceiling this year. Anyone ever tried this?

1 comment:

KelleyAnnie @ Over the Threshold said...

If you talk to my mom about it, she will tell you about how when Brian had his second or third Christmas she was unable to have a tree other than a small tabletop thing with red bows on top of a bookcase because he would have eaten it.