A Letter to Periwinkle at Nine Months

Dear Periwinkle,

You got to celebrate your nine month birthday at the beach, on vacation with us, Grandma and Grandpa, your aunt and uncle and little cousin. Not bad!

With Indigo, Grandpa, and Grandma

 We did a little photo shoot on the beach with Uncle B the day before, with you in your red sun hat. You weren't in the best of moods, but you still looked adorable.

A shot by Grandma during your "photo shoot"

We went to the aquarium in Mystic that week, too. We weren't sure how much you would get out of it, but you seemed very intrigued by the stingrays and the penguins. You weren't quite sure what to make of the sea lions or little fish, and were just done with the whole thing by the time we hit the belugas, but we will definitely take you again sometime as you get older. You were both very well behaved, which was great. Even when a torrential downpour started up just as we went outside!

 

Oooh, penguins!

I feel like most of your achievements this month happened during that one week at the beach. You got ridiculously good at pulling yourself up to standing. It now seems like one of your favorite things to do. You lean over to me and try to grab on to me so you can pull up. So far though you still need to be holding onto someone's hands for you to be successful. When you get to standing you grin, so proud of yourself. Sometimes you even take a half step or two. And sometimes you think you can let go of our hands and end up back on your bum. But you always try again. Keep trying, little lady!

Standing with Grandma

You popped your second tooth that week, too. That's right, you have TWO teeth now! And plenty of drool-covered cloths and empty boxes of tissues to prove it. You had some ornery days (surprise, surprise) but generally came through like a champ. We're lucky it didn't really affect your sleeping at night (thank goodness). Your brother took care of that for you.

A chilly last day at the beach

You're eating a lot of foods, including cut up strawberries, scrambled eggs, toast, Cheerios, pieces of meat from whatever we are eating, and the trusty standbys of sweet potatoes and yogurt. Oh, and broccoli!

Happy little broccoli trees

You got very good at crawling backwards to get where you wanted to go this past month, and now can go forward, but that technically happened after your nine month birthday so we'll save that for next month's letter. Your hair is getting longer and thicker, and possibly lighter, and your eyes are almost totally brown now. I enjoyed your baby blues while they lasted!

A little curl! Brown eyes! So grown up!

You are still chatty and smiley in the morning. It just makes my day to see you grinning at me like that. I keep talking to you and doing some baby sign language and hope that soon you will be able to communicate with us a little bit. You raise your arms up when I go to pick you up, which I love. If you are on your tummy and you know I'm going to pick you up you still lift your arms and raise your chest up high so I can grab you. I'm convinced you will be a rock star at Pilates.

You enjoyed the Fourth of July and managed to sleep through the fireworks, thank goodness. You've gone in the pool several times, in a little orange float we got you. You need to stop kicking your legs because you will propel yourself OUT of the float, and that scares me a little bit. But you definitely enjoy the water. At the beach you seemed to want to jump out of our arms to go into the waves, and you were okay with getting your feet wet. We have a little fish on our hands. I was a little fish too.

On July Fourth

Ready to go in the pool!

I love seeing all the ways you are like me and all the ways you are so different from me. You are such an awesome little girl and I love you beyond words. Happy nine months, baby girl!

Love,
Mama

On the ferry en route to Rhode Island. You weren't quite sure how you felt.