The diarrhea dried up, the diaper rash healed, the ear infection went the way for the dodo and we finally had our 9 month well baby visit. Fiona is definitely a growing girl. To make up for the weight she lost while sick, she gained a pound during the last two weeks. She now weighs 16 pounds, is 26 1/2 inches long, and her head is 17 inches around. That puts her above the 10th percentile for her weight, at the 10th percentile for her length, and at the 25th percentile for her head circumference. These percentiles are all for her actual age, not her adjusted age. We didn’t even look at her adjusted age.
Fiona hit two milestones in the past week or so. First, she has begun to vocalize with purpose. She makes all sorts of noises at us that are not whines or cries. She opens her mouth wide and says “Aah!” as well as lots of other sounds. Sometimes, she sounds like a little dinosaur. Her sounds have evolved from the sound she made in the video I posted last week.
The other milestone is a big one and we think it is affecting her sleep. Yesterday, Fiona figured out how to get into a sitting position from her stomach. My mother kept telling me she was trying to do so and I shrugged her off. When Fiona succeeded the first time I called it a fluke, like the first time she rolled over back in August or the first time she “crawled” forward in December (neither event was repeated much after). But a few minutes later, she did it again. And then we couldn’t keep her on her tummy. As soon as we put her down, she was sitting. My mother was right!
She has been trying to crawl in earnest. She can move backward, but not forward. She gets around by rolling, pivoting, and backward movement.
Oh, and of course she is still teething and it looks like something may be getting ready to break through very soon, possibly on the bottom again. She won’t let me poke around in her mouth so I cannot tell for sure.
Her sleep this week, particularly last night, has been awful. Normally, she gets a bath around 7 (sometimes a little earlier if she seems really tired, never later), is clothed and fed and read to for a little while, and is in bed by 7:30. I usually put her down wide awake and she rolls to her side and falls asleep. Once in a while she falls asleep in my arms. She sleeps for about 4 hours then eats 11 and 11:30. I go to sleep after this feeding. She wakes up once during the night to eat, then wakes up for good between 5 and 6 (yes, we are trying to get her to not wake until after 6, but she’s an early bird unlike both of her parents). Lately, she has been restless after her bath and not going to sleep right away. Last night she cried for a long time, even though we were trying to sooth her. I even tried to feed her again and she was uncharacteristically refusing. She finally went to sleep, and slept for about 5 hours. I fed her around 1 and she never truly settled back down. She woke at 2:45 and John held her until 5am, when I fed her again. This behavior is rare for her of late.
Tonight began in a similar way. We made her bath earlier and put her in bed, on her back, at 7:15. She was quiet for a while, then began to whine, then cry. We let her cry for a few minutes (sometimes she settles down and goes to sleep after a minute or two) and then John checked on her. She was on all fours in her crib! Aaaah!
At least she settled quickly after John turned her over onto her side. I’m sure the time change isn’t helping at all, what with it being light at her bedtime now, instead of dark.
Here is a photo I took of her today:
Chewing on her hand like this means more teeth in the near future:
She’s eating more and different solid food. Yesterday she had Annabel Karmel’s Lovely Lentils. She ate it up of course. And we have the green light to try yogurt and cheese, meat and pasta, and pretty much everything except raw honey, nuts, and shellfish.
Here is a bib I bought because I could not resist it. I think it is appropriate for both Fiona and St. Patrick’s Day:
It’s a little small to be practical, but sooo true!
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