To the nines

Posted by kara

The number one thing I hear parents (including myself) say all the time: “The kids grow so fast!” And here I am, celebrating Toshi’s 9 month birthday with a blog entry. I remember seeing a 9 month old at the doctor’s office when Toshi was 3 months. The baby looked BIG with big chubby hands and was very active (pawing at our diaper bag). I couldn’t believe that Toshi was ever going to be that strong and active and big. And now she is! She is so big, that her 12-18 month dress barely fits around her big belly. She has 6-12 month bottoms to go with it, but they were so tight around her thighs that I took it off mid-day.

This morning I reminded Paul that nine months ago he decided to take off work to stay home with me. I told him to go into work, but he said he could work from home. Which he did. It’s funny what images stick out in your memory. For me, it was Paul sitting at his computer while I was on the floor having irregular contractions.

Anyway, Toshi is 9 months old. She is now a big baby! She can pull herself up onto her knees. She can pick up her banana puffs and usually she can shove them in her mouth. She can sometimes drink from a sippy cup. And this morning, while she was clawing at my knees, I think she might have said, “Up!” I tried to test it out by asking her if she wanted “down” and then putting her down, and then asking her if she wanted “up” and then picking her up. She didn’t say “up” anymore, but she said syllables very shortly, much like how Paul says the word “up” to her. So maybe she is starting to catch onto word meanings. We are also trying to get her to say “Obaasan” which I thought meant grandma, but my mom says she thought it meant old lady and that grandma was “obaachan”. Either way, she is a long ways off from putting syllables together.

Here is our 9 month old: