Winding down with the Whiteds: Madison: 9 months

The last month has been so fun! Madison gets more social each and every day. She is getting smarter and smarter. She now knows how to give a kiss, clap her hands, she knows what "turn the page" means, and I think she's starting to understand who 'mama' and 'dada' are. She's a champ at climbing the stairs. She loves bathtime. She loves our sneakers and shoelaces. She's still a little scared of dogs and cats. She loves being outside and playing with sticks. She is definitely getting more clingy. She makes working from home very hard now. It doesn't matter what I put in front of her, she wants me sitting on the floor with her playing with a toy. She loves climbing on the dishwasher. She's cruising all the time, holding onto things while she walks herself somewhere. She is standing on her own a little more. She still only has 2 front bottom teeth and everything goes straight to her mouth now. She knows the cabinets that she's not supposed to get into and goes for them all the time. I put her hair in a ponytail for the first time (barely stayed in, but it was there)!

She really likes to scowl.

I love that she loves books. I hope this never changes.

Her hair is getting so long!

Eating
We are done breastfeeding. We went from every couple hours to less and less breastfeedings a day, to only one first thing in the morning. I realized I was only doing it because I liked that time together when she first woke up. But then I would have to go downstairs and give her a bottle, too, since I wasn't producing much at all. So, I started keeping a bottle and some formula upstairs for the morning, so we still get cuddle time together in our bed while she eats her bottle and wakes up. I love that time! Aside from that, she has about 4-5 bottles of formula each day, snacks, and usually about 2-3 "meals." She usually eats oatmeal and some kind of pureed fruit mixed in with the oatmeal after her first nap. Then she eats something with us when we eat our lunch (a nectarine, cheerios, yogurt, whatever). Then for dinner, we try to give her a little meal. I almost always try to give her finger foods that she can eat by herself so I can prepare our dinner. We'll give her peas, black beans, red beans, shredded cheese, bite size pieces of a fruit, pieces of bread, cheerios. We haven't had any problem with her eating unless she isn't feeling great (i.e. lately she has been acting strange, extra fussy, and all the signs of teething, so she has't been eating as well as she usually does). She's a great little eater. She really likes to feed herself.

Sleeping
On a normal day, she'll take two 1.5 hour naps and she goes to bed around 8pm (really, anywhere between 7:30-9pm depending on if she is extra tired, if we're giving her a bath, if we are running behind, if we went out to eat, etc.). She is flexible. BUT, she manages to wake up consistently between 5:30am and 6:30am. It's common for her to wake up around 5ish and I don't go in to get her until 6:30am. I'm not sure if she goes back to sleep or just plays, but after fussing a few minutes, she gets quiet. Then at 6:30am, she's definitely ready to eat.

And just so you can see what our "photo shoots" really look like these days... now you can appreciate me being able to get even just one good one of this on-the-move opinionated little girl...