9 Months Old!

Molly Joy is now 9 months old. It's kind of crazy to realize that, up until this point, Molly has spent more of her life inside my womb than she has outside. In some ways, it feels like Molly's been part of our lives forever; it's hard to remember what life was like without her. But it also feels like the last nine months have flown by in the blink of an eye. I was just flipping through some newborn pictures and videos the other day and couldn't believe how much our little MoJo has grown over the last 9 months.

So, what's new with 9-month-old Molly?

• She has learned many new skills in the last month. She can now crawl on her knees (rather than just slither like a snake, although this is still her favorite method of movement), get from her tummy into a sitting position, pull herself to standing, stand supported to play for a good long time, take steps while holding onto someone's fingers, clap in delight, wave "hi" (sort-of...looks a bit like a one-armed bird flapping), repeat "dada" back to you, and pick up tiny objects with a precise pincer grasp (finger foods, that is. Don't worry. We're not letting her practice this skill on coins or buttons or other choking hazards). It's absolutely amazing how quickly she's picked up on these things. One day she can't do something and the next day she can. Within hours, she's mastered the skill. Child development never ceases to amaze me! I was just reading the other day that infants are born with over 100 billion neurons. However, relatively few of these neurons are connected to each other in networks. Over the first year of life, the number of neurons remains fairly stable, but what grows are the connections, or synapses, between neurons, sometimes at a rate of thousands per day. THOUSANDS PER DAY!!! If used and stimulated enough, one neuron can develop connections to up to 15,000 other nueurons. If left un-used, these connections will die. As a lover of science, this is just another reminder to me of what an awesome and creative God we serve. As a mother, this motivates me on a daily basis to talk with, sing to, read to, and play with my amazing, growing, changing, maturing baby. Keep growing those synapses, baby girl!


• Molly LOVES paper. The church bulletin, junk mail, napkins, magazines - she can destroy all of them in short-order. I made the mistake of letting her hold onto the grocery list for a moment the other day while I was comparing prices in the store. I had a hard time deciphering the remaining items on my list through all the rips, crinkles, and slobber. Her doctor gets a kick out of it because she'll destroy every inch of paper on his examining table in the few minutes she's on there during a check-up. When we went to a Durham Bulls game the other night, she watched very little baseball, but she did really enjoy destroying the program! Here's Molly "reading" the fine print on getting an IRA. It's never to early to save for retirement, you know :)


• Molly does NOT love grass. We took a little family picnic to the park the other day and she was very uneasy in the grass. The texture just didn't seem to sit right with her and she kept looking around worriedly as if we'd plopped her in the middle of this ocean of green and she didn't know how to get to shore. Surprisingly, she looks really happy in all the pictures we took in the grass. But the pictures are definitely not reflective of her general mood at the time.


• She knows where her parents are, even if she can't see us. Just recently, Molly has started sleeping in the corner of the crib closest to her bedroom door. For months, we've been laying her down to sleep at the far end of the crib, but she's now chosen the end closest to the door to sleep. For the past week, when we go to get her up in the morning or from a nap, we'll find her standing in that corner, staring at the door waiting for us (or, in this case, crying for us to come rescue her from her "prison"). She also knows where her parents are when we're pushing the stroller or in the car. When she's "talking" to us in the car, she'll crane her neck up to look for us so we can have a conversation.


• Molly loves to "study" the world. She has what I call her "junior scientist" face where she furrows her brow and stares intently at an object, turning it over and over in her hands until she's studied it from all possible angles, at which point she'll probably stick it in her mouth. She's so deliberate in her observations; it cracks me up. She'll stare at an item for a very long time before she ever-so-carefully lines her hands up and, with such purpose and intention, picks it up between her finger and thumb. Every night before bed she "studies" her toddler toothbrush for a good 2-3 minutes as if she's making sure all the little rubber bristles are in the exact same place they were yesterday. Funny girl!
• In addition to her toddler toothbrush, Molly is still very much attached to her bottle of Eucerin lotion. It's an automatic response for her; the instant her body touches the changing table, she's craning her neck around until she can grab that bottle. If she's fussy on the changing table, all the tears stop instantly when that bottle's in her hands. It's very strange. If, for some reason, the bottle of Eucerin is not enough to appease her, the toothbrush certainly will.


• We've finally settled into a pretty predictable schedule, which has been great. I love knowing exactly what to expect from day to day and I think Molly does too. The first feeding of the day is usually between 4 and 5am, after which I get ready, pump a bottle, and leave for work. Molly wakes Eric up between 8 and 9am, followed by breakfast, playtime, a bottle, and a nap from about 11am to 1pm. Eric does household chores and "pumps iron" while Molly naps. The afternoon usually includes lunch, a walk through the neighborhood and some time in her favorite swing. When I arrive home at 3:30, Molly's ready to be "nursed and napped", as Eric says, which gives me a chance to detox from my work day and get some things done for about an hour while Eric goes to work. Then comes the most precious 2 hours of my day when I get to feed Molly dinner and play with her. We stack blocks, practice standing and walking, read stories, crawl around the livingroom, play a game I call "Super Molly" (think: "airplane"), and sometimes go for another stroll through the neighborhood. Bedtime is usually around 7pm. It stinks to have so little time together during the week, but we take full advantage of every second we have together as a family on the weekends. And summer is a mere 3 weeks away!!!

Here are a few other shots captured in the last few weeks:

She went through a "backward crawling" period for a few days. One problem with crawling backward is you can't see where you're going, which is how you get yourself stuck under the couch :)

She has insisted on standing in the tub recently, which scares me to death, because she likes to let go with both hands to play with her duck. I just don't want her to fall and crack her head open!