Isla is nine months old today. She can stand on her own and has taken a few steps on her own, but is still unsure of herself. She crawls up the stairs with ease and will do so in the blink of an eye. She can open drawers and cabinets, and one of her favorite activities is to empty them out, along with hampers, trash cans, and toy boxes. She can imitate the following motions: make the sign for milk, wave bye-bye, raise both hands above her head, hit the floor, and make chewing motions.
She loves cheerios, graham crackers and toast. She has a perfect little pincer grasp that can pick up any small small object, be it a piece of dirt or a cheerio, and place it in her mouth. She also eats peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries, cherries, sweet potato fries, edamame, turkey, and bananas. She likes to chew on pieces of apple and baby carrots. She eats pureed bananas, sweet potatoes and applesauce. When she is finished, she drops her leftovers on the floor or feeds them to the dog.
She loves music, and will dance by bobbing up and down. Sometimes, she also sings, making an atonal 'aah' sound along to the music. This is always done with the utmost seriousness. She makes the sounds 'ma ma', 'da da', 'ba ba', and 'yeah yeah', but doesn't know what they mean. She can also blow raspberries and make kissing noises. She will often chatter quietly to herself when playing or upon waking up from a nap.
Isla's favorite part of the day is crawling or walking down the hall naked to her bath. Her least favorite part is getting her nose cleaned after her bath.
She is a rather willful child who knows what she wants. She cries angrily when something she likes is taken away or not given to her. On the plus side, she is easily distracted and quickly recovers. She knows what 'no' means, though she doesn't always listen. Sometimes, it makes her cry, and sometimes, she pretends not to hear.
The majority of the time, though, she is a very happy baby. Very inquisitive and busy, but happy. She fills my heart with joy daily and I thank God for the nine months we have shared with her so far. Here's to many, many more.
