It seemed like not much was happening, and then there was another explosion!

– First full water submersion. She went under for one second, three or four times at swim class! She loved it each time.

– Teeth numbers 3 and 4, her upper left and then upper right incisors broke through, a day apart. Finally, the biting has started to ease up, and I think it’s because she finally cut those two teeth. She had bruises and blood spots on her gums from them. Owie.

– Cruising. She can now walk along a piece of furniture, switching hands as needed to reach what she wants. She can also go from one item of furniture to another (or a person)

– Standing by herself! 30 seconds at a time before she loses balance! If she has even one of someone’s fingers to hold on to, she can go much longer.

– First blood draw from her arm vein :(. Because I’m not giving her iron drops the doctor wanted to check her iron levels at her 9mo appointment instead of 12. And since my vitamin d levels have been consistently low, I was worried about hers despite her daily vitamin d drops. So, blood. I held her still in my lap while a nurse held just her arm still, and the phlebotomist got her blood. The phlebotomist had a lot of trouble finding her vein, and dug around for probably 30 seconds (it felt like an eternity to me). She finally found it and then it was high fives from everyone for my brave little girl. She definitely expressed her displeasure during the whole thing, but didn’t cry or even fuss. More like whimpered a few times. She handled it better than I did! Oh, and her results came back looking great.

– 9 month well baby visit: she passed with flying colors. Here are the vitals:
Length: 29.5″ the same as her 6mo?? The pediatrician thinks they mismeasured at her 6mo. 99th percentile.
Weight: 24.5lb she’s thinning out as she grows taller. 95th percentile.
Head circumference: 45.5cm. 88th percentile.