Eloise at Nine Months

WEIGHT: 17 pounds 10.5 ounces (41st percentile)
HEIGHT: 27.75 inches (56th percentile)
CLOTHES SIZE: 3-6 months and 6-9 months
DIAPER SIZE: Three

LIKES:
 - Playing in any sort of water
 - Grass
 - Drinking water
 - When I say "mama"
 - Clicking tongue noise
 - Being outside
 - Phones and videos
 - Swings
 - Being tickled on her ribs, armpits, or neck
 - Being tossed in the air
 - Surprised faces
 - Small children
 - Food: yogurt, pureed pears, ice cream, baby puffs
 - Tags on toys/blankets
 - Singing
 - Going on hikes
 - Making eye contact/seeing us in the car mirror
 - Constantly standing and crawling

DISLIKES:
 - Getting her clothes changes
 - Long car rides
 - Getting boogers wiped
 - Being held for too long (she just wants to be crawling around!)
 - Falling down
 - Playing alone for extended time

FIRSTS/MILESTONES:
 - Crawling! (35 weeks)
 - Getting from her tummy to sitting up (35 weeks)
 - Pulling herself to standing on furniture (36 weeks)
 - Ferry ride (36 weeks)
 - Visiting the state of Oregon (37 weeks)
 - Big girl carseat (38 weeks)
 - Clapping (38 weeks)

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Discovered that she can sit up and stand when she is supposed to be sleeping in her crib, haha.
 - Still very patient and well behaved when we're on the go. She does well eating her meals wherever and usually naps alright (except church, that usually has to involve some screaming first, of course)
 - Becoming better balanced while standing, and can usually stay upright well while only holding on with one hand.
 - Still almost exclusively sleeps on her tummy.
 - Seems to be a picky eater and not very interested in most foods, especially if they are not yogurt, her favorite haha.
 - Has learned that she can do things specifically to get reactions from us, and will repeat herself to get them.
 - Hasn't woken us up in the middle of the night crying and needing something (she occasionally wakes us up with her sneezing and talking to herself haha) in over FOUR MONTHS. Our baby is the best.
 - Hasn't figured out the pincer grasp yet, but getting closer!

Our girl is officially on the move! Just a few days after turning eight months old, Eloise began to actually figure out the crawling by moving one arm and leg at a time. It took a while for her to be able to do it consistently and to really get where she wanted to go and she still isn't super quick, but she loves being able to move! And just a couple weeks after figuring out the crawling, Eloise started pulling herself up on furniture. She got good at that quick. She'll step in and take a step or two sideways, but typically once she is standing up, Lou remains fairly stationary. No real couch surfing yet! She does like to show off by only holding on with one hand though, haha. As soon as Eloise is set anywhere on the ground, she typically finds the nearest piece of furniture, crawls to it, and stands up. She also likes to crawl toward shiny things or abnormal things (like the base of clothes stands in stores) and lay down and start licking them. Yum.

Eloise is still about on the same schedule she has been on, with three naps and about 11 hours of nighttime sleep, though the times have shifted a little and we are trying to introduce more food. Her awake times are starting to get longer though, so I think we will be ditching the third nap here real soon. Here is the current schedule though:
8:00 am - Wake up, 6 oz bottle, play, breakfast foods (no purees)
10:00 am - Nap
11:30 am - Solids (food and purees), 3-4 oz bottle, play
1:30 pm - Nap
3:30 pm - 6 oz bottle, play, snack (no purees)
5:30 pm - Nap
7:00 pm - Solids (food and purees), play
8:30 pm - Bath (when needed), lotion massage, 4-5 oz bottle, song, down for the night

This month, Eloise got to visit my family in Washington again! She did awesome on the flight, just like last time. She was quite loud the whole time, but at least it was a happy loud, haha. After a week at home, We drove down with my family to Sunriver, Oregon for a Nielson Family reunion (post on that later). This drive did not go so well as the plane trip. She was so sad and fussy the whole time. At least it was short! And she was just a peach in Oregon. She acclimated well to sleeping in a walk-in closet and all the loud cousins, and just loved all the extra attention she was getting.

Eloise is seriously a happy girl. When she gets really fussy or actually cries, it seriously is abnormal. Unfortunately, the last week has been a lot of that. She is getting back to her normal happy, patient, smiley self now, but we weren't sure what was going on for a while. This was the week after our two week vacation to Washington and Oregon. Our best guess is that the general unhappiness was due to a mixture of time change, long road trip back (12 hours), new place again, teething, and perhaps needing to drop a nap? We don't know. Hopefully that sadness is gone for good, because the crying and no napping was not fun (though night sleep was still so good, she is the best).

I know I write this every single month probably, but Eloise just LOVES being outdoors. She is at her happiest--even if she is hungry or tired--when she is outside. Preferably out hiking or in a pool, those are probably her favorites. If she is every fussy, going outside cures it almost every times. She enjoys splashing in puddles in the rain, crawling in grass, bouncing around in the hiking backpack, dipping her feet into alpine lakes, being pulled in the bike trailer... Basically everything outdoors we have done so far. Lou is so content to look around and try to eat all the grass, rocks, and leaves haha. We definitely think she was born into the right family here ;)

That's the last of it here. Now I'm just trying to prepare our little apartment for a baby that now gets into everything and quick, too! We sure love our wiggly, moving, happy little babe!