month nine.

miss evie evs,

while we were away, somehow you turned 9 months rad! i feel bad that i didn't get to take your pictures and write you a letter on the day, like i usually do, but we were eating lunch at a little cafe next to buckingham palace at the time! how cool is that?!

here are my favorite things about you at this age...

• you are the tiniest little wisp of a baby ever. i don't even want to post your percentiles for fear you might be embarrassed about them some day. i promise i feed you! all you want, even! and you are healthy and strong and growing, but boy, you are TEENY.
• you are the easiest stinking baby. you go with the flow. you smile and find ways to entertain yourself regardless of what we are doing and you are just seem to be delighted with life most of the time. i hope you are lucky enough to have a baby exactly like yourself one day.
• you LOVE to clap and babble and get attention from whoever will give it to you. you smile at strangers all the time.
• you pat the table and my back and the doggies when they come close enough.
• you also try to pull all the dog's hairs out. which isn't helping your quest to become best friends for life with both of them.
• you love to eat food all by yourself and are constantly trying to steal the spoon from me so you can do it. please don't get too independent on me too fast, little one!
•  your favorite thing to do is find two objects and bang them together. you seemed surprised and delighted every single time it makes a noise. you did this on the plane right home with two packages of pretzels for at least 20 minutes.
• you love to look at yourself in the mirror and watch videos of yourself on the ipad.
• you love mickey mouse clubhouse.
• you LOVE dogs and make the funniest little  "oooh oooh oooh" grunt when we see them and are working on your barking noise. while we were in london we stumbled upon a little pet store in a mall and you went bonkers kicking and yelling and clapping over the dogs. i had no idea you would react that way towards dogs other than your own. it was hilarious!
• now that we are home, you are going through a little "i want mommy" phase and don't want anyone else to hold you. i think this is the result of 2 weeks of change and weirdness and travel in your life. all of it has made you a bit clingy, which i understand.
• you have the funniest, craziest, wispiest hair that makes me laugh all day long as i try to keep it looking presentable.
• you refuse to let me put a clip or a bow in your hair. after so much trying on my part, you have now gotten to the point where you just reach up and touch your hair every so often throughout the day just to be sure there isn't a clip in it. if there is one, you immediately pull it out, smile and put it in your mouth. you are so clever!
• your favorite thing to say right now is "baba". you don't relate it to a bottle or anything, but all day long you just say "baaabaa" in different ways and with different expressions.
• sometimes you try to sing along when i am singing to a song on the radio.
• you love apples and sweet potato puffs. you love to try to drink from my cup and you are actually pretty good at it now. you want to eat everything that i am eating. you've tasted ice cream and frozen yogurt, which is something i never thought i would say about my 9 month old, but whatever!
• you are finally starting to get up on your knees and think about crawling someday. 
• you love your daddy and kick your legs and clap your hands when he comes home. you love it when he tickles your face with his. you give him the sweetest little bashful smile when you see him. i think you might be a little bit in love with him. 
• your tongue is always sticking just slightly out of your mouth and your right thumb is dry and chapped from all the sucking on it you do.
• your nickname is "sweetest" or "sweetest girl" because you are. 

my favorite moment with you on our trip (besides when you went berserk over the dogs at the pet store) happened in a little london taxi traveling back to our hotel after a dinner of cauliflower soup and bread in the city. we were riding back and  i was talking to you all about the dogs we had just seen that day. we were laughing and barking and saying "doggie!" because that's a word you recognize now, and i guess i was being a bit over-the-top. finally my mom looked at me, laughed and said "you realize you are in the back of a cab barking like a dog at your baby, right?"

 

right! i realize it! i look like a little nuts, but i don't care. you are so excited and enthusiastic about life and it makes me feel the exact same way. i am loving watching you explore your little world and i am so lucky to get to be the one to discover it along side you. we are laughing and singing and reading and exploring.

we are barking like doggies in the back of the cab, and girlfriend, we are having the best time.

love, mama