We got to go to the doctor yesterday for our 9 month checkup. No shots--Yay! Elise weighed 22.6 pounds and was 30 1/8 inches tall. Linnaea was 19.2 pounds and 30 1/4 inches tall. The doctor told us we have the heights of an average 15 month old! Nothing else exciting happened there, which is how we like it sometimes.
Elise is doing all sorts of fun stuff. She was the first one to start clapping and she claps in response to mommy clapping and singing patty cake, or when she's all done with her bottle or food. She also LOVES to rock her head to music, which is on the video. Isn't it the cutest? She has the most attention for things. She will play with one toy for a long time before she goes to find another one. She gets extremely frustrated when she puts herself into positions in which she feels stuck, like up on the fireplace hearth. She is also the most sensitve, for when she falls or gets bumped by Linnaea or the dogs she screams quite heartily. And then she squeezes out the two biggest, most perfect tears you've ever seen. Last week we went to the library and she fell down one step in the children's theatre. She screamed so loud that I am sure every single person in the entire 2-story library heard her. Then mommy had to show her face up at the counter to check out books. She was embarrassed. Elise is still the heartiest eater but the doctor assured us she won't max out on food. She polishes off formula, cereal, and two jars of baby food and still has room for cheerios.
Linnaea is trying her best to walk on her own. She is up to four steps without assistance and I think the only reason she goes to the floor is because she knows she can crawl faster to get where she wants to go, which is anywhere and everywhere. She doesn't like to focus too long on one toy because there are just too many unexplored places to go! She can clap now, too, and she likes to stand and bounce to music and songs. When she falls, she rarely cries. Even today when Rosie knocked her from behind, smashing her face into the door, she cried a little but was focused on something else within seconds. Linnaea is the best at feeding herself finger foods, particularly dog food and cheerios. She also has a bit of separation anxiety, and those are the moments she'll really let you know she's unhappy. She will be playing with daddy and Elise just fine, but as soon as she sees mommy she will start to cry and eventually get hysterical until mommy picks her up. It seems to be the worst when she's tired and hungry, or always when mommy needs to be doing something else.
We have discovered that we fit into the racecar shopping cart at Publix, which is SO exciting. Elise holds her steering wheel at ten and two and keeps her hands there the whole time as she smiles at the people shopping. Linnaea spins her steering wheel, then tries to undo her harness, then tries to climb over Elise, then grabs Elise's steering wheel, tries to undo Elise's harness, then tries to climb out the other side...
