Baby News (9 months)

Kara is growing up. We're starting to see her independence, and there is a little part of me that wants her to slow down. It's sort of sad watching her leave the co-dependent blob stage. I can still call her a baby, but the term toddler is creeping up faster than I would like.

It is unlike me to be sentimental about things like this, but it is so weird that she is just a completely different person now. She's constantly on the go (except when she's sleeping...thank you naptime!), she is responding to several words, and she has started to whine and get angry when she doesn't get her way. Yes, she is growing up indeed.

Here are some of her new favorite things to do:

• Waving - Kara is all about waving. She waves to strangers, she waves to dogs, she waves to us when we come to get her up from a nap. I have found that this gesture melts the hearts of little old ladies. I actually make a special effort to wait until Kara waves at them because they always get excited and tell us how we just made their day.
• Feeding herself - Kara has decided that she needs to help us feed her. She can be somewhat insistent about holding the spoon. She usually ends up with more food in her hair than her mouth.
• Find the Puff - Puffs are a yummy Gerber food for babies (like a puffed up Cheerio). They are great motivators for Kara. One of our games is to hide a puff under one of three buckets. I don't know how much she likes searching for the Puff, but when she finds it she loves shoving it in her mouth.
• Yogurt painting - So much fun! We got this idea from our nephew who did it in day care. Sit the kid in a high chair, and drizzle the tray with a mix of plain yogurt and a drop of food coloring. It's a mess, but it's a contained mess, and Kara has a blast "painting" the tray (and herself).

Baby van Gogh

Brought to you by the letter B

Kara makes 3 babbling sounds, buh-buh-buh, rah-rah-rah, and uhm-ma. I read somewhere that it is good to help babies associate their babbling with actual words. So today is all about the letter B.

We have been playing with bubbles, boxes, and books.

The bunny was fun for a while, but then she wanted the blocks.

She drank from a bottle and ate barley and blueberries....she did not wear a bib, which was a big mistake.

We looked at pictures of B and Beeba (her grandmas), and played ball with Kermit in the backyard.

Later, she splashed in the bath and went to bed with her blanket.

Then Mommy and Daddy said bye-bye.

But, the best part of our day of B's was chasing the b-b-balloon!

From the fithians (click on the picture to view the video)

Flat head update

We just had our follow-up visit to the neurosurgeon at Texas Children's Hospital. He said Kara's head is improving, and he doesn't see any reason for a helmet. Even better, he doesn't think her head would even qualify for a helmet.

It is likely that her head will always be a bit deformed, but nothing that should cause her embarrassment.