It is starting to get a little cooler and we have stocked L's closet with her fall and winter clothes. She looks like such a "big girl" when she wears blue jeans and jackets! Part of that is also that she is just growing so fast and getting taller every day.
In the past week, Lauren has started waving at people. It is so cute! She will wave at any friendly face. There is a woman who works at Phoebe's Bakery, where I like to buy sandwiches for lunch, and Lauren waves at her every time! This woman just loves it and waves back at Lauren practically the whole time we're in the shop.
Also in the past week Lauren has started eating real solid foods. She loves pickles! I bite off the skin of the pickle and then she takes a big bite of the soft part and chews it right up. I am still nervous for her to be eating solid foods, but she can't eat purees forever. She has since tried bites of watermelon, banana, kiwi, pasta, a whole wheat waffle, and chicken. She didn't care for the watermelon or pasta but she was a fan of everything else, especially the chicken. Now that she is interested to eat real foods, I cannot rely on baby food pouches and will have to start preparing things. I knew it would happen sooner or later!
Lauren turned 9 months old last week. She is growing up so fast! I thought I would take a moment to document some of the fun things she is into now.
She is a super fast crawler and likes to stand up all the time. She crawls all around the house and pulls herself up on everything - boxes, tables, the ottomon, even Dan's violin case! In the past few days she has started standing unassisted for a few seconds before reaching out to steady herself. She gets very proud of herself! This is from a few weeks ago, but below is a video of Lauren crawling to chase Dan around the game room at our hotel in Bermuda.
Little Lauren is such a smiley baby! She was not an early smiler. I remember when she was an infant and I was worried she would never smile. Now she smiles all the time! She is very happy and gets so excited to see us. When Dan or I enter the room she gets a huge smile on her face and takes off crawling towards us.
She is a good little eater and has been doing purees for months now, but in the past week she has started eating real solid food. We have given her very small bites of mushy food like kiwi and banana. She has bitten into a pickle and has eaten chicken. So far, so good. She definitely has the Henderson sweet tooth gene, though. She loves fruit and doesn't care for veggies unless they have sweet fruit mixed in.
My favorite time of the day with Lauren is during her bedtime routine. It is the cutest, happiest thing I have ever seen. First of all, she loves bath time and splashes around, plays with her bath toys and likes to suck on a washcloth! We then have a special "dry off" technique (that we have been doing since she was born) that she just loves. Once she's in her PJs, we head to her room and she eats a little bit but then takes a break to play. It is the most precious thing and I would not trade this time for anything! She takes little breaks while eating her last bottle of milk for the day and cuddles, smiles, burrows into your chest and just generally has the best time! It is so fun! She started doing this about a month ago. At first, I wasn't sure how to respond because I thought "it's bedtime, not play time!" But then I realized that this is just how she likes to end her day - with some sweet play and cuddle time. It is just the sweetest thing and I love it so much. She loves to cuddle, which is really fun!
Last week we visited the doctor for Lauren's 9 month check up. She is still tall - in the 90th percentile for height. She is in the 50th percentile for weight. She has slimmed down a bit due to all the crawling she has been doing lately! She weighed in at 19.6 pounds last week, but I know she weighed just over 20 pounds a few weeks ago.
