Nine Months

Alana watching Baby Einstein from the swing, aka TV chair


Thank goodness for antibacterial hand soap!

Alana and Mama

Alana and Dada


Alana playing on the couch

My, how the time has flown by us! We cannot believe Alana is nine months old already. She has two teeth, says "Mama" and "Dada," frequently says "nah nah" (but we don't know if she means banana, Nana, or no-no), and babbles all the time. She waves at everything (toys, trees, people, pictures, animals...); Alana's wave, which was once a whole arm movement, is now a movement from the elbow up or a side-to-side "beauty queen" wave. She loves to flip lights/switches off, but she hasn't mastered turning them on yet. On Tuesday morning, Alana took her first two steps; unfortunately, she lost her balance and went down on the tile floor...no scrapes or bruises, though! She loves to go to the mall and visit the Soft Play Area, where she can watch the toddlers and crawl through tunnels. Alana loves to have her teeth massaged with the finger brush. She likes to play in the grass, swing, and go down the slide on Mommy's lap. She dances to the music of her activity tables and gives the sweetest hugs. Alana is a great eater. She has recently learned to point to her nose and to other people's noses. She can point to her eyes, but I don't encourage it because everytime she does, she pokes herself and flinches (ouch!). ;-)

Update

Specs from Alana's nine month doctor's appt:

length- 29 1/4 inches, 90th percentile

weight- 20lbs, 7oz, 75th percentile

head circumference don't remember the cm, but 95th percentile (yikes!)

first flu shot, no side effects (yeah!)