Watch Her Grow

   This is my first official weekly installment of my observations about Q-ball.  To help me organize my thoughts and, hopefully, to help you better follow along, I have decide to organize my observations by (1) determining one or two broad foci (it's true- I love this word and just look for ways to use it...) from the week based upon what seem to most drive Q-ball's activities and (2) listing my observations by her interactions with materials (i.e. toys, objects, etc.), space (i.e. how she is moving about.), others (i.e. people), and life (i.e. sleeping, feeding, pottying, etc.)  We'll see how it goes and make adjustments as necessary.  As always, feedback is welcome!

Today Q-ball is 9 Months and 1 week old!  At today's 9 month check-up, she weighed 19 lbs 3 oz (5 lbs 9 oz at birth!) and was 27.5 inches long (18 inches at birth!) 

This Week's Foci: Sound and Movement

 Interactions with Materials

• She loves experimenting with the sounds that objects make, especially a wooden spoon, a metal spoon, and plastic shapes Great Grandma N. gifted her for Christmas- typically by banging them on the ground.  
• She also continues to love playing with a large popcorn tin (which Great Grandma and Grandpa G. sent to us in Iraq!  These posts always remind me of how blessed we are to have a wonderfully supportive family!)  She loves standing up and trying to walk with it.  And, of course, she loves banging on the top like a drum.
• Before Mama and Daddy realized it, she discovered a stuff toy squeaked, and has been getting a kick out of making the noise ever sense!
• I decided that one toy we had out was a little above her current level- just would start crying when she couldn't figure out how to open it, so it has been temporarily removed from our current Q-ball exploration spaces.
• For the second week, she has again loved exploring books on her own.  I think she's starting to develop a concept of books- how to turn the pages, exploring pictures, how to throw them off the shelves.

Interactions with Others

• Daddy went back to work this week after his holiday break, and Q-ball was always very excited to welcome him home.
• She is repeating some sounds and starting to make them so that we will repeat them back to her ("ahhh....", "mmmbaa...") 
• When she's with a group of people (ok, so typically it's just Daddy and Mama) who are laughing, she loves to join in and often have the last laugh. 

Interactions with Space

• Cruising around the room on the furniture was definitely mastered this week.  She practiced moving along bookshelves, window ledges, walls, and couches and even around corners and between table legs.

• Her favorite place to practice squats continues to be on the legs of her highchair.
• She loves to crawl full speed in a random direction when changes activities. Imagine a pinball.
• She also mastered moving up and down small steps- one to a separate (and slightly off-limits due to cat litter and Daddy's hobby paints) part of the house and one at the bottom of a built in bookcase.

Interactions with Life

• The breastfeeding Olympics continues she finds new ways to navigate monkey-bars-Mama.

To see the rational and purpose for the Watch Her Grow series, please check out this post!