9 Months!

I can't believe it's only been one month since I last wrote an update for McKenna. For once a month actually felt like it didn't zip by, which is odd cuz the Christmas season usually feels like it's gone before it starts! But this month seemed long because McKenna seems so much older than only a month's worth of days compared to Thanksgiving! Once she started crawling, she grew up over night and has changed and learned so much!





New this month...

Everything! Again!

She went from barely crawling at the beginning of the month to a little crawling machine! She's pretty fast now and since our house isn't that big, she gets around really quick. I used to be able to put her down in the family room and do something in the kitchen and then come back to her. Now she's in the kitchen before I turn around! Having to keep my kitchen floor a lot cleaner!

She finished the month by learning how to pull up on stuff! She's not horribly consistent yet, but she's getting there. The low stuff she's mastered, it's the higher things that stuff that she can't quite do yet. Still fairly wobbly on her legs though, and definitely doesn't know how to sit down yet, so I have to watch her close so she doesn't face plant or fall back. But so far we haven't had any catastrophic falls! I'm sure they're coming!

Her favorite spot to pull up is the bathtub because she loves the bath and because she thinks it's really fun to watch Austin play in the bath.

She's interacting with Austin so much more now that she can crawl. She can go investigate what he's playing with and get in on the action rather than just watching from a distance. He's learning about sharing the hard way! She also thinks it's funny to chase him all over the house and he thinks it's funny too! It used to be the slowest game of chase ever. Austin would go wait in the corner of the kitchen, giggling, until she got there. Then would run over to the couch and wait again...for a while! McKenna would plod along after him, giggling the whole way. Now the game goes a bit faster, although she tends to get distracted by all the cool stuff along the way!

It really seems like overnight she figured out toys. She had been playing with the shake and rattle kind, but now she's getting into the more complex "cause & effect" kind. Christmas was good to her. She got some great new toys and it is so fun to see her discover how each of them works. Austin's old Learn & Groove music table (sans legs) is a favorite too.

We're FINALLY making progress on food. She's now up to about 4oz a meal, 3 times a day. My dad gave her ice cream at a family function a few weeks ago and it was like the light turned on! Good things come on spoons! Within days, she was eating 3 times as much. She really likes her food mesh thingy too and will devour half a banana or pear in minutes. I know she's done because it becomes a toy instead and she bounces it around until it ends up on the floor. She has fairly mastered getting puffs into her mouth and we have tentatively moved onto cheerios. So far she hasn't choked! She still has a little tongue thrust action going, so they don't always stay in, but she seems to have figured out the chewing factor some. She is still making baby steps on baby food, but funny enough, she loves big people food. Well, big people dessert at least! I have to be quick at eating anything I have in my hands that even resembles chocolate. It must be instinctual with girls! A few weeks ago at church, she grabbed a brownie out of my hand and shoved it in her mouth before I could react! And it had nuts in it! I really can't blame her though. A brownie sounds better than pureed sweet potatoes with corn to me too!

I think she's waving. Sometimes it seems like she's waving bye but other times, it seems like she just happens to be flailing her arm at a coincidental time! Not sure yet! Whatever she's doing, she's very energetic about it!

Sure enough, having an ear infection messed up sleep! She got a little too used to be pampered to sleep and we had a rough couple weeks getting her back to her regular routine. Seems like every other month is a sleep issue!

Just last week she figured out how to make a motorboat noise (where you use your finger to teedle your lips and make different pitches with your voice, rather than just horselip noise where you just blow air out) She likes to do it on herself but if you're holding her, she'll lean forward with her lips pursed out so you'll do it on her instead. And she's figured out doing it on me too. It is becoming a bit of a distraction for her, cuz she'd rather motorboat than nap sometimes!

She's saying "Mama" a bunch now. Mostly it's mumbling, but she does say it when she wants something from me too. I particularly like it when she's crawling over to be picked up, saying it over and over again! No better feeling than to be so needed!