Nine months in the womb, and nine months out. Joanna is her own person. She has gotten interactive and loves to play little games with us. She initiates peek-a-boo, and she loves a game that Grandma Colleen taught her: you lean forward, and then she leans forward to touch her forehead to yours. Repeat that over and over and over again. She enjoys mimicking, and we alternate drumming on surfaces.
Jo's language is developing a bit more. Her favorite sound to make is still "Bwa," but she also says, "Mumumum," a lot. Shrieking has started back up again, louder and shriller than ever before. She coos a lot, too. She still enjoys waving and being social.
She has a new appreciation for her brother. Oliver is the funniest person, as far as Jo is concerned. She loves reaching for him and pulling on his hair and ears--and he lets her! Oliver is such an amazing brother, that I'm tearing up just thinking about it. I really lucked out with these kids. They absolutely adore each other.
Weaning seems to work two steps forward and one step back. She was down to three daily feeds and one night feeding when her top teeth started to come in. Boy, she didn't like those! After both of those teeth popped through (she has four now), she went back to 3 daily nursings and one nighttime nursing. Then, last week, we decided to cut out the night nursing for good. Jo has done really well with that change, but--wouldn't you know?--she got sick a few days ago. She's had a moderate fever and diarrhea. She doesn't seem to want to eat or drink much, so I've been nursing her for extra feedings to keep her hydrated. Over the past few days, she's been nursing about 5-6 times during the day. Wow! Hopefully, things will settle down to get back on track to having her weaned at 12 months old.
As far as solid foods go, Joanna still loves her Gerber sweet potato puffs. I also toast some whole grain bread for her and scrape a very thin layer of peanut butter over it. I cut it into thin strips and let her eat those. She loves it! Cheerios are another good standby for Jo, but I have to feed her those one at a time. Otherwise, she just shoves them all into her mouth at once, and I have to fish them out. She usually enjoys a jar or two of baby food each day, too.
There's been one more big change: Joanna is now sharing a room with her brother. I have my living room back! It's so cute to step into Oliver's room and see him sleeping on his mattress and Jo sleeping in the crib across from him. I love it. Sleep is getting much better, too! Jo wakes up at night once, and Andrew goes into to pat her and comfort her (instead of me nursing her back to sleep). It usually takes about 20 minutes or so, but she eventually falls back to sleep. She seems to want to go to bed earlier and earlier. These days, we fight to keep her up until 7pm. She's usually up by 6am. She usually takes one short nap and one long nap during the day. Unfortunately, they're usually just before and just after Oliver's afternoon nap. I look forward to when she's napping once a day so we're not trapped at home so much.
Joanna still doesn't stand well while holding onto things. Well, she will, but when she gets tired, she just hurls herself to the floor without a worry in the world. She doesn't pull up to a stand and actually has yet to pull herself into a sit. She does, however, easily move out of a sit and into the crawl position. She doesn't work much on crawling. Instead, she cries until we sit her back up. Crawling might not happen for a couple more months yet.
At 9 months old, Jo's likes and dislikes are:
Likes
Oliver!
Dumping over buckets of toys
Being held
Grabbing people's hair and noses (still!)
Peek-a-boo
Oliver's Sesame Street music videos
People who stop to smile at her
Dislikes
Diaper changes
The car seat
Heat
Being put down on the floor
Teething
Jo's language is developing a bit more. Her favorite sound to make is still "Bwa," but she also says, "Mumumum," a lot. Shrieking has started back up again, louder and shriller than ever before. She coos a lot, too. She still enjoys waving and being social.
She has a new appreciation for her brother. Oliver is the funniest person, as far as Jo is concerned. She loves reaching for him and pulling on his hair and ears--and he lets her! Oliver is such an amazing brother, that I'm tearing up just thinking about it. I really lucked out with these kids. They absolutely adore each other.
Weaning seems to work two steps forward and one step back. She was down to three daily feeds and one night feeding when her top teeth started to come in. Boy, she didn't like those! After both of those teeth popped through (she has four now), she went back to 3 daily nursings and one nighttime nursing. Then, last week, we decided to cut out the night nursing for good. Jo has done really well with that change, but--wouldn't you know?--she got sick a few days ago. She's had a moderate fever and diarrhea. She doesn't seem to want to eat or drink much, so I've been nursing her for extra feedings to keep her hydrated. Over the past few days, she's been nursing about 5-6 times during the day. Wow! Hopefully, things will settle down to get back on track to having her weaned at 12 months old.
As far as solid foods go, Joanna still loves her Gerber sweet potato puffs. I also toast some whole grain bread for her and scrape a very thin layer of peanut butter over it. I cut it into thin strips and let her eat those. She loves it! Cheerios are another good standby for Jo, but I have to feed her those one at a time. Otherwise, she just shoves them all into her mouth at once, and I have to fish them out. She usually enjoys a jar or two of baby food each day, too.
There's been one more big change: Joanna is now sharing a room with her brother. I have my living room back! It's so cute to step into Oliver's room and see him sleeping on his mattress and Jo sleeping in the crib across from him. I love it. Sleep is getting much better, too! Jo wakes up at night once, and Andrew goes into to pat her and comfort her (instead of me nursing her back to sleep). It usually takes about 20 minutes or so, but she eventually falls back to sleep. She seems to want to go to bed earlier and earlier. These days, we fight to keep her up until 7pm. She's usually up by 6am. She usually takes one short nap and one long nap during the day. Unfortunately, they're usually just before and just after Oliver's afternoon nap. I look forward to when she's napping once a day so we're not trapped at home so much.
Joanna still doesn't stand well while holding onto things. Well, she will, but when she gets tired, she just hurls herself to the floor without a worry in the world. She doesn't pull up to a stand and actually has yet to pull herself into a sit. She does, however, easily move out of a sit and into the crawl position. She doesn't work much on crawling. Instead, she cries until we sit her back up. Crawling might not happen for a couple more months yet.
At 9 months old, Jo's likes and dislikes are:
Likes
Oliver!
Dumping over buckets of toys
Being held
Grabbing people's hair and noses (still!)
Peek-a-boo
Oliver's Sesame Street music videos
People who stop to smile at her
Dislikes
Diaper changes
The car seat
Heat
Being put down on the floor
Teething
Here's a flashback to Oliver's 9 month old update.
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