Swings and SeaWorld

September has been another busy month. Vivian turned 9 months old on the 11th. We visited the peds office for another weight check and a developmental check. She's now 20 lbs 9 oz (75th percentile) and 26" (10th percentile) and doing well.

We have discovered that Vivian likes swings. She really likes anything where she can feel the wind in her hair.



She's also mastered sitting back down and squatting from a standing position. She's getting pretty brave when she's standing up (and cruising). She likes to take both hands off of the object she's hanging on to to see if she can stand for a few seconds without holding on to something.

We've been recommended to go see a specialist about her language development. At the ped visit, we completed a survey about her language development and apparently the results caused some "concern." So, we'll see how the visit goes in a couple of weeks.

We took another quickie trip to Orlando this weekend to go shopping. Yes, 4 hrs each way to shop...sometimes you don't have a choice. I needed clothes, Chris needed shoes, we needed food from Whole Foods, and Vivian needed some things from Babies R Us.

We went to SeaWorld for a couple of hours. It was very hot (95 degrees) and humid all day, so it was a bit miserable. Vivian loved seeing the dolphins again and enjoyed spending time in the aquarium where she sat on the floor and looked at the fish and rays swim under her. We're hoping to make another trip down when it's not soooo hot.






I can't forget: We have 2 upper teeth coming in (finally!!!!!).

The hardest part about standing up....

is trying to figure out how to get back down! It's so funny how Vivian can figure out how to get up on everything now, but then gets stuck standing up. She'll whine a bit and then we'll help her get back down. We've been trying to teach her by bending a leg or offering a hand for support. Yesterday, I think she figured it out. One hand went out to the side, while the other hand was hanging onto to the object. One leg went out to the side and the other one bent at the knee and all of a sudden, she was down!

We're heading to the peds tomorrow for the 9-month visit. I don't think we'll have shots, but there is some kind of blood draw at the hospital. We're guessing she's right around 21 lbs. We'd like to ask about starting on more solid food, as opposed to all the pureed stuff she's been eating for the last couple of months. She's VERY interested in what we're eating and she's tried to grab at my plate several times. I'd like to try avocado and mashed up chickpeas. The trick is to have the food be smaller than the windpipe. The size of her windpipe though, is basically the same as the diameter of her finger. TINY! :) We might try some kind of pincher food. No Cheerios for this gluten-free kid though. We'll see what the ped suggests.

Everything else is going okay. I'm surviving my 5 classes, one research assistantship, and one other project. I definitely don't have a routine yet, which is making it pretty rough. Parking is a nightmare on campus, so Chris has been dropping me off everyday and then I hoof two miles to-and-from my classes. I guess my routine is being on-campus everyday from 8:30-9:00 am until 3:30 or 4:00 pm. Next semester (my last one of coursework) will be much easier!! Only 12 weeks to go until a break, which is much needed!!

Look Mama! I can stand!

Yes, it's true. Vivian can now stand up when she grabs onto something (daddy's bag, her crib, her Fisher Price music table, and the coffee table)! It's amazing that a few weeks ago she learned how to sit up!



We also found out that she LOVES the piano! :) Perhaps she'll show some interest when she gets older and we can start her with piano lessons.