9 months old already!

I feel like I just posted her 8 month post....time particularly seems to fly by over the holidays, right? So our baby girl is already 9 months old! This last month has been some of her most significant milestones so far.... She is now crawling (a modified crawl in which one knee is down and the foot is down on the other leg), and she is very fast! She is getting into cubbards, checking out light sockets, trying to climb the stairs (and she has managed to get up a few steps!), pulling up on just about anything and everything, and opening drawers and doors. It is so much fun to watch her explore everything....how she learns to open a drawer for the first time and then turns to look at me as if in amazement at what she has just discovered. She is getting more adventurous with standing up, too- holding on to furniture with just one hand or side shuffling to move around the object while holding on. She really likes to do this on the ottoman.

One of the most significant changes I've seen in her, aside from the fact that she can now keep herself very content playing and exploring without much adult facilitation, is that she is no longer my little baby that always wants to be held. From the time she was born, she has been the baby that wants to be held. She never really wanted to be set down, and during the first few months she could barely even sleep at all by herself. I remember taking naps with her in my arms. Now that she can crawl, she arches her back when she is in my lap, indicating she wants me to put her down! She is funny in that she will follow me around the house- just a few seconds after I'm in the laundry room I see her rounding the corner to find me. But the only time she crawls to my feet and grabs onto my legs is when she needs to eat, or maybe sometimes a diaper change. Other than that she is Raegan the explorer!

These days she loves to play catch with Roxy.....this has turned into an evening routine that even Roxy anticipates. Around 6:00pm Roxy seeks our Raegan, wondering where the ball is! Raegan has a pretty good arm on her and can toss the ball for Roxy to chase. This always involves lots of giggles and smiles from Raegan (and Jay and myself can't help but laugh, too!). Here is a youtube video from the very first "catch" experiences with Roxy. Click here.

This is a long post, but I have to say one more thing. (And I am not sure I even should mention it, for fear of jinxing the whole thing!). For those parents out there, you will especially appreciate this....Raegan is able to put herself to sleep in her crib! No rocking! No singing! No milk! No snuggling! I just give her a kiss, her binky, and tell her I love her, then lay her in her crib and walk out of the room. She goes to sleep!! She stays asleep! I feel like I won the lottery. For those of you who don't know, Jasen and I have in the past had to spend up to an hour (or more) trying to get this little girl to take a nap. One day she just refused to let me rock her, so I decided that if she doesn't want to be rocked, then she will just go in her crib. She cried on and off for 22 minutes before falling asleep the first time I did this. The next time was 5 minutes, the next was less than a minute, and now she is a pro! Now, the putting her down in her bed while she is awake is nothing new....I have tried doing this for months and literally her and I would go round and round for hours, with Raegan screaming, me comforting her, me leaving the room, Raegan screaming, me crying, ....you get the idea. NOT WORKING. Now, it works!! Hooray for 9 months!! :)