Baby Time

For about 3 months now, we have been going to Baby Time on Wednesday mornings. It is offered by the library and hosted by my long-time friend Mr. Frank. Caterpillar Girl has loved it from the very first visit. Mr Frank sings, dances, and reads stories, and moms and babies sing and dance along with him. At first, she just stared at Mr. Frank, completely mesmerized. As she grows older though, she has gotten more involved. She dances with songs, walks while holding Mommy's hands during Ring around the Rosy, and crawls around interacting with other babies. Last week, she crawled to another Mommy and sat right on her lap for an entire song. I know as she gets even bigger, she will be clapping and counting along with Mr. Frank, just like the older kids we see each week. It is a tremendously valuable program that we never miss.

Thanksgiving

We spent a fabulous Thanksgiving Day with Gran, Granddad, Ahma, and Ahpa. Ahma cooked a delicious dinner. Where's Caterpillar Girl, you might wonder. She is in her high chair next to Mommy, which isn't tall enough for Ahma's higher table!


Caterpillar Girl is a little shy in crowds right now so she spent most of the day in Mommy's sling, where she could be close and safe and watch the goings-on. as a result, I didn't take too many pictures, but below are a few of a playful Caterpillar Girl, taken by Ahma, in her Thanksgiving dress (the one that actually fit her, rather than the one Mommy made her for Thanksgiving. That one won't fit for several more months.) Only top teeth are showing in this upside-down shot, but she has two more bottom teeth. Six in total now!

Playtime

We are seeing such diversity in the games that Caterpillar Girl initiates these days.

She plays different types of peek-a-boo. Above, at the park, she holds onto a pole and peeks on one side and then pops her head over the other side. Surprise...peek-a-boo...back and forth until she dissolves in giggles. Another variety happens when she pulls up on Mommy who is seated on the ground. Using her back she walks around and peeks over Mommy's shoulder on one side, and then walks back to the other side to peek over that shoulder. Usually this game involves a lot of Mommy saying "Where's my little girl?" and looking on the wrong side until she finds Caterpillar Girl....and then more giggles. And yet another type of peek-a-boo is played with a scarf. Mommy or Daddy drapes the scarf over either their own head or Caterpillar Girl's, and she delights in pulling it off.

Another popular game is collecting and piling. Above she is collecting leaves and putting them into one pile. She also enjoys collecting the blocks from her sorting game and placing them into the sorting box.

Her crawling has become more robust with belly off the floor so she also loves just crawling through tunnels in the playground, over pillows in the house, and across the grass and dirt in the park. She is in constant motion, and loving it every second. Ever since she was very young, she got frustrated by her inability to move, and now she can't get enough of travel, as far and as fast as she can go. It's about the journey for her...something we can all learn to appreciate.

[As an aside, our digital camera has partially died. The screen no longer works, however it still takes pictures. It's like having a regular film camera where you can't see the pictures until they are developed (or downloaded). The park pictures in this post were taken this way and many came out fine, but it can be hit or miss. So we are starting to save for a new camera...keep your fingers crossed that we still get some decent blog shots until we can get that new camera.]

Like Father, Like Daughter

Granddad took the top picture of Caterpillar Girl with his cell phone, and then scanned the bottom picture of her Daddy at the same age. Can you believe the likeness?

Stepping Out

A few days ago, Caterpillar Girl pulled to standing on her Daddy's legs. He stepped away and she balanced for a few seconds and then took one step--her very first step without holding on! It was so exciting and unexpected.

Meanwhile, she has been walking all over the place while holding onto our hands, legs, or furniture. However, she is pretty content with her method of travel, toddling while hanging on the furniture and plopping down on her butt to crawl to the next thing she can grab onto. She is particularly fond of climbing and has now mastered the pillow mountain, which she can climb to get onto the couch.

Two Fun-filled Weekends

Caterpillar Girl has been having a ball. Two weekends ago, Mommy and Caterpillar Girl visited Aunt DiDi. Friday night we explored the Five Points neighborhood in Jacksonville and ate a picnic dinner near St Johns River. Aunt DiDi taught Erin how to fly on a breezy, moonlit night.


The next day we visited the zoo with some of Aunt DiDi's friends.

By the end of the day, Caterpillar Girl had made a new friend. They walked through the park holding hands until we got to the Komodo dragon. Little boys get too excited to hold hands when there is a Komodo dragon to be seen.

Before we drove home on Sunday, we swung at the park and watched the dogs making their rounds.

You can tell the heat and humidity has finally broken around here because everything is taking place outside now. The next weekend our family attended a picnic for families who took the Bradley Method Birthing classes with our teacher.

Caterpillar Girl played in the park and practiced her walking. She is quite adept now at walking while someone holds her hands and she pulls up on pretty much anything. Check out the shoes! She has graduated to a pair of pretty pink shoes.

Nine-Month Stats

Our little caterpillar is growing more slowly.

Height: 28 inches, 67th percentile
Weight: 18 pounds, 5 ounces 42nd percentile