9 Months: Clapping, Waving, Standing

Well, we are almost at the end of another month and bubba is becoming such a little person.  I feel like she has gotten so much bigger recently... not necessarily physically, just less... baby-like.  My little baby has gone!  In her place is this little girl who gets cleverer and more independent by the day.

Early in the month she figured out clapping all by herself - and decided to express her love for food by applauding every mouthful.

The daycare lady had been trying to elicit a wave from bubba for ages and drawing only blank "what the hell are you doing" stares.  But once she had discovered clapping, she soon decided waving was good fun too.  Although she doesn't quite grasp the "coming and going" sense of it, more just that it's a fun way to flail your arms around and get people to exclaim happily in high pitched voices.

And then a few days ago, we discovered that she could stand against the couch all by herself!  She has always loved to be held into a standing position - but one day I let go and she just kept standing there!  Holding onto the couch mind you, but still... she was pretty darn proud of herself and I couldn't believe what a grown up little girl she looked.

The next day she even pulled herself into a standing position.  It's only happened the once so far, but I was pretty surprised!  Clever monkey!

A funny thing happened the other night.  I've never really played peekaboo with her cos she never really seemed to "get" it - she would just look at me like "seriously?"  But then the other night, she was down the end of the couch and she started peeking over the top, cracking up laughing and dropping down again.  She did it over and over, it was so cute!

I feel like she has changed so much over the past few weeks and I feel like I'm settling more and more into motherhood.  As she grows and becomes more interactive and more like a little person, I find myself enjoying it more and more.  Yes, I still get frustrated.  But I'm learning that the trick is to alter my expectations.  If I don't expect to spend an hour reading my book, if I don't expect to sleep through the night without interruption, then I don't have to get frustrated when those expectations/desires aren't met.  And when I do happen to get a moment with my book or a good night's sleep, then I can just enjoy them as happy little bonuses.  All in all, I'm starting to see what this motherhood thing is all about. 

The older she gets, the more rewarding it gets.  I would say I've definitely enjoyed this age the most so far.  The only thing I'm not quite sure of is whether that's actually because of her age or because of my own personal growth.