8 & almost 9 Months

We have had a lot of problems with our computer lately. It started after I had half the neighborhood playing computer games with my boys. They only did this a few times over a 2 week period but I guess it was enough to throw a bunch of kinks in our system. So no more neighborhood kids on our computers!!! We've been slowly working through the kinks and I think we are more or less up and running again. So here's a post I had hoped to have published several weeks ago.

Within days after turning 7 months old she started full on crawling!! This is way earlier than MacGregor or Ainsley who were well past 8 months. She gets everywhere and on all surfaces, carpet, hardwood, linoleum, grass, concrete. She's pretty much unstoppable. And today of all days she got from the first step to the second all by herself. I kept thinking I had time before I got out the gates. She cruises the furniture and fireplace. She pulls herself up on walls and cabinets and drawers. The latter two often open while she is pulling up and so we've had many spills. She loves cords and plugs and we do our best to keep her from them. She loves to crawl under tables and thru chairs but becomes very frustrated when she can't fit thru a space or can't find her way out of the maze. Our life has become very inturrupted. I said I think this might be worse than when she was a newborn and nursed every few hours and needed holding. We really have to keep our eyes on her at all times and she is constantly moving so anything I need done takes a back seat.

About the same time she started crawling she also stopped nursing. It's been just about a month now. She just didn't want me anymore. She stopped gradually - first she decided she only wanted to nurse with both of us lying down, I guess it was more relaxing and usually without other distractions in the room. Then it was lying down but only first thing in the morning and last thing at night and then it was NEVER. Daniel walked in our room one evening in early July to find me topless wrestling the baby on the bed. I was trying to get her to lay still and nurse and she was rolling away so I was on top of her, holding her down and trying to force my breast in her mouth. Daniel said gently (after he laughed at scene before him) "I think it's time to stop nursing." OK, guess she won that one.

She LOVES food however. She hardly ever eats babyfood anymore, only when we are having crunchy or spicy food. We chop up what ever we are eating and she feeds herself from her tray. Her hand eye coordination has really improved. She loves cut up fruit, although just this week she has started spitting out the bananas. She likes ham and cheese and buttered toast. She likes frozen peas slightly thawed and cereal soaked in formula. But her favorite of all favorites is ICE CREAM. She will yell and grunt for it and you can't get it in fast enough. And if you think, Oh I'll just share mine with Piper, you better ask for two scoops.

She has just started singing and dancing. Two weeks ago in church she began making long extended sounds as we were singing the closing hymn. The problem was that she would keep singing when the verses ended. Many people came up to me and commented on her singing. Last week while singing the last verse of "Spirit of God" right on cue with the singing and shouting part she started squealing very high pitched sounds. I had to cover her mouth because it was REALLY loud. She has just started dancing as well. When we turn on a CD or the radio . she will start bouncing her little knees if she is standing or if sitting she bobs her head and shoulders. She dances to all kinds of music and I really wish our video camera was digital and I'd show everyone cuz it really is cute.

And she cut her first two teeth today. They weren't there last night and this morning I thought I saw white so I put my fingers in her mouth and felt the rough edges of tiny little mammalons poking thru her gums. She is roughly 8 and a half months. Ainsley was 10 months before she cut her first two teeth but the boys were between 6 and 7 months. It took Ainsley 2 more months before she cut the top ones but I can see the white bulging in Pipers maxilla so I wonder if these next two are around the corner. Gone are the days of her cute gummers smile.

Piper has ceased to be even a little cooperative when getting dressed or changing her diaper. It is a wrestling match EVERY time. She twists and turns and rolls away, gets up and crawls... I try every distraction available - giving her toys, stuffed animals, wipes etc... Today she was up crawling away naked so I chased her down, sat her on my lap and put her diaper on backwards while she was sitting up. It was easier to fasten the tabs in the back then try to get around her gut while she is bending and pulling away. It worked just fine.

She is still the smiliest baby in the world and I love it! These are her almost 8 month photos. I missed 6 months and therefore will be skipping 9 months so I thought we'd just do 8 mos and hopefully 12. No problems in the studio getting her to smile, that's for sure.