Wallflower

Almost 9 months now, Baby B is growing on us.  Even more.  She's much more fun these days, letting her quirky little personality show.  Shaking her head at us.  Using her hands to say, "Gimme!  Gimme!"  Making us do her bidding with her radiant little smile.  With the gap between her two front teeth.

And she claps.  A lot.  It never fails to make us smile and cheer and clap along with her.  Which probably explains why she does it so much.

She still won't take a pacifier.  And she has also refused to suck on any fingers, although she likes her toes on occasion.  But mostly, she prefers her tongue.  She likes to stick it out.  And roll it.  And curl it.  And grab it with her little pincer grip.

She's a monkey.  It's a challenge to keep her seated in the bath.  And we have to engage in a wrestling match to get her clothes on.  There are just way too many interesting things in life to lay quietly and be groomed, apparently.

She loves to crawl around the house, searching for contraband material.  She pulls herself up and cruises along the coffee table in search of MORE contraband material.  And she eats lots and lots of cheerios.  Maybe that's what makes her so very cheery.  Which I don't really understand, because they sorta taste like cardboard.

Or maybe this stage is just the reward for surviving and enduring the 9 months of pregnancy and then the first 9 months of infancy.  The hardest stuff is behind us.  Hopefully.

This stage it just plain fun.  There are even moments now, when I succomb to the "last baby syndrome."  When I think to myself, "Hey, wait!  Slow down just a little.  I like you like this."

And then she usually barfs on me.  Or has a poop explosion.  Or she keeps me up all night because she's cutting a tooth.  And then I think, "No, it's ok.  Change is good."  And I am content to let time carry us forward.

As long as I take LOTS of pictures.

Thanks to Auntie R for the headband.  It wouldn't have occurred to me to buy one with a flower as big as her face.  But it's adorable. 

But then again, so is the baby.  Even if I do say so myself.