Isabel Therese Nine Months

Dear Isabel - This has been such a fun month to watch you grow and change! First of all, you are crawling all over the place now. And pretty fast. You are putting EVERYTHING in your mouth. We have to watch you like a hawk, as they always say. We certainly had a scary moment with you this month - I was in the kitchen doing some dishes, and you and your sister were playing in the living room. I thought everything was pretty safe, but all of the sudden you started screaming and I ran in expecting that Madeline had grabbed a toy from you. But there you were, holding one end of a computer cord in your mouth and the other end plugged in at the outlet. Yikes! Bad parenting moment, little girl. But fortunately you were fine - I called the doctor right away, and James found out in 30 seconds via google that power surges through computer cords aren't very strong. Enough to give you a scary shock, but nothing to really harm you at all. I guess you weren't the first baby that has done that, given the number of online forums dedicated to the topic.

Speaking of hanging with your sister, you two have really started to develop a new relationship. Your interactions are much more playful now. You love to play the "paci game" with your sister, where you grab the paci out of her mouth, you both crack up laughing, she grabs it and puts it back in her mouth, and you do it again. It's pretty funny to watch. Madeline also loves to play peek-a-boo with you when you're in your high chair - she hides under the tray and pops up, and you laugh your heart out. Isabel, you also love to be doing whatever your sister is doing. You want to be play with the toys that Madeline has, and if she takes them away from you then you make a big fuss! We're having to try to teach both of you to share a little better. But we are seeing so many hints of the great friendship we hope and pray the two of you develop as you grow. 

You are eating a lot more "big people" food now, in very small bites of course. It is harder and harder to feed you with a spoon, because you'd rather pick up your own food. Your favorite foods right now are cheese and cheerios. You also have started to get upset when you see us eating food that we won't give to you. Just tonight, we were eating some home-made pizza and you were making a fuss all throughout dinner because you wanted to have some too. All in good time, little one!