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Ella at Eight Months

Almost as soon as Ella mastered sitting up, she decided she would not remain stationary.  She kicked off the first week of her eighth month by "army crawling" and I am not that happy about it.  One of my favorite baby stages is when they learn to sit, but before they crawl.  Ella's desire to be on the move reduced that precious time to one week! Blah! 

I guess the trade-off has been that her new found independence has her relying a lot less on Mama to hold and comfort her, so she is now more open to being social with others.  And she is social.  She freely gives smiles and chatters away at anyone who will pay her any attention.  She loves the antics of her older brothers, and they can get her to laugh so hard that she will end up with the hiccups.  She waves goodbye.  She loves to reach out and grab at faces and push her fingers into noses and mouths. 

And speaking of mouths, that's where everything goes...into Ella's mouth.  She is particularly fond of paper products, grass, and leaves.

But don't think that it is all smiles and pleasantries with this child.  She has come to rely, a little too much for my liking, upon the power of her voice. Shrill, screams at unnaturally high decibel levels are often used to call everyone to attention or to demonstrate in protest. At times, it can be a little unnerving. Even so, who wouldn't love a face like that!  

Ella at Nine Months

Well, "army crawling"  quickly developed to upright crawling in a matter of two weeks, so by the time Ella turned nine months, she had already moved on to her next physical conquest, pulling up to standing position. 

There's lot of ups and downs and lots of bumps and bruises with this stage, but with all the frustration, there is pure elation for Ella at discovering the world in new ways from new perspectives. She loves to explore and pull things off tables and dressers.  She likes to get into garbage cans and spill their contents on the floor.  She is fascinated with the task of unloading the dishwasher (and the inside of the dishwasher in general).  She seems to always be underfoot, waiting for an opening in a cupboard or bathroom door, and she's pretty quick to sneak through those openings.

Maybe all of this moving around has contributed to her continued slight weight gain.  At her nine month appointment she wasn't even on the growth charts for weight (15 lbs. 4 oz.).  The doctor tried to make me feel better by saying, "I think she's probably in the 3rd percentile, so I'll put that in on my notes."

Don't worry.  She's not starving.  She's up to three solid meals a day with two solid snacks between, and she still nurses throughout the day and night.  She's just skinny...and tall (75 percentile).  What more could a girl ask for, right?

More is being discovered of Ella's personality.  She is a talker, an occasional screamer, and she loves to mimic people coughing, doing lip trills, and sticking their tongues in and out.  She laughs when someone sneezes.  When I pick her up to hold her, she pats me with her free hand. Those are just a few of her Ella-isms.

For the most part, Ella is a happy-go-lucky kind of girl. She is pretty chill with being surrounded by brothers who can, at times, be a little too rough, too loud, or too obnoxious. She even smiles when she pukes (bottom right photo).  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  She's a keeper!

This post authored by Amber