Dear M: Nine Months Old

Dear Miss M,

I am so amazed by you every day. You are such an exceptional little girl who makes everyone around you smile. Seriously... I've been approached by more and more people wanting to just meet you as the months go by. Your smile and laugh are contagious.

You are also developing so quickly! In the past month you've mastered crawling and can get just about anywhere you want to go. You can also pull to a stand and let go for a few seconds as well as lower yourself down without falling. You just started picking things up off the ground while standing and know that if you can't quite reach it you can sit back down, pick it up and stand back up. Oh, and did I mention your cruising like crazy too? You are one strong lady!

When I tried to get your monthly pictures I couldn't get one good shot in the chair because you kept pulling up to a standing position. And then when I tried to get a crib shot you would roll over as quickly as possible and crawl to the side of the crib to stand. You didn't want to have anything to do with laying down. These pictures might just get harder and harder to get!

You are starting to get more and more hair. And I didn't want to say anything but I think you may be a strawberry! I always thought there were hints of red in your hair but most people just looked at me like I was crazy for suggesting it. But I'm not crazy. You can definitely tell in some of the pictures we took in Hawaii.

You went on your first plane ride (and did amazingly well) as well as went on your first family trip with us. Your brother didn't get to do this until he was 18 months old! And this was his first plane ride too. You snacked, played, nursed and slept for the majority of the flights. But there were a few fussy times where you wanted to get up and move. So we let you stand up and crawl at our feet (with a blanket put down first, of course). Daddy also took you to walk up and down the aisle at least once or twice to stretch your legs some more.

You adjusted quite well to the time difference and went with the flow of each day even though you might not have gotten quite as long of a nap as you would have liked. You slept poolside, at the beach, on Mama, on Daddy, on Grandma, on Aunt Louise, in the car, in the stroller and on the couch. And you convinced us to purchase a king bed since you loved the one in our condo so much on vacation (and now try and stretch out as much as possible in our small queen at home).

Yes, that's right. You are still in bed with Mommy and Daddy. I honestly didn't try too hard to get you into your crib and don't think I'm going to. I suggested that Daddy just take down the crib now and turn your room into a playroom for the time being. It just makes more sense.

Speaking of play, you try so hard to keep up with your big brother. You love playing with him and all of his toys. He isn't too keen on sharing everything but you will take any toy he gives you so for now it works out quite well. He even occasionally shares his prized dinosaurs with you! Such a lucky girl. You smile and talk to him as much as he'll listen and then some. And he loves calling you his sweetheart (he may have overheard Mommy and Daddy calling you this). I sure hope that you two have an amazing sibling bond when you are older. But no pressure!

To end this monthly letter to you I want to leave you with a few outtakes from our monthly photo shoot. You did NOT want that gorgeous Evi Luna headband on your head so your brother helped you out... as any good brother would do!