Nine Months Old

I've been experiencing technical difficulties in getting Anna's 9-month post completed.

As in, technically Anna is finding it extremely difficult to pose for her monthly crib shot.

I tried to explain that "photo session" and "naptime" are two totally different things, but she didn't buy it.

There went my plan to have a montage of crib photos for her first birthday.  Later the same day, however, I finally completed a tutu I've been working on and slipped it onto Anna's waist to check the fit.  She loved it!  She fluffed up her skirt, laughed, and took off crawling around the house.  I grabbed my camera to capture the fun:

The rear angle is my favorite:

The tutu even cheered her up enough to snap one quick photo with the sign:

So Anna, at nine months old:

• Is still sleeping 12 hours at night, with one long and one short nap during the day.  I am sooooooo grateful for this.
• Is drooling!  So maybe a tooth is in the works (she's still all gums at present).
• Is laughing, squealing, and combining some sounds.  No "mama" or "dada" (not even babbling), despite all the coaching I'm doing.  (Coaching her to say "mama," that is--John's on his own!)  She waved bye for the first time last week.
• Is cruising along the furniture and walking behind her new baby stroller--she is still pretty wobbly, though, and won't walk holding my hand yet.

Anna strolling her baby from Angela Gianini on Vimeo.

• Is in disposable diapers!  I bought some flushable liners for her cloth diapers in a last-ditch attempt to deal with the poop--if they don't work out, I think I'm going to have to give up and pollute the earth. (I'm ignoring the fact that, at the moment, we have approximately 20 bags of leftover holiday trash by the curb.)
• Is eating lots.  She nurses 4-5 times daily, plays/sips on her sippy cup of water, and eats about 4-5 jars of baby food and cereal a day.  She enjoys all fruit purees and orange vegetables--but will eat green veggies only if she is really hungry. Oh, and she loves puffs and will scream for them.
• Is holding her own in toy struggles with Will--she is much less easily distracted and gets angry (for a few seconds) when toys are taken away from her.  I think I'm going to have some epic battles to deal with once she becomes even more mobile.
• Is more and more fun each day!