I have a nine month old? What?!?

Dear Piper, 

I cannot believe that Piper turned 9 months old on 2/12. It is official you have now been on the outside for as long as you were in. You have stolen my heart this month. My cuddly, chubby baby has turned into an exploring, jumping, dancing, singing, clapping, crawling girl. 

 In one month you went from belly scooting across the floor to crawling on all fours and pulling yourself up. You comfortably play on your knees and will stand for as long as your Dad and I are willing to provide hands for you to lean on. You are measuring 29 inches and are in the 90th percentile on the infant growth chart.  Dr. B predicts you will be between 5'9" and 5'10" tall.  In the past week you went through this CRAZY growth spurt and all of a sudden all of your pants and sleepers were too short. You were walking crawling around in flood pants. I am sorry for making you complete this fashion faux pas, next time we will be better prepared.

Pip you are going to have some LONG legs. You have also learned how to use those legs to butterfly kick in your bath tub. You love the splash you make and of course Dad and I get soaked as we attempt to bathe you. 

Pip, you love to test your vocal range, if you happen to be hanging around our house in the early morning or mid-afternoon hours Pip will squeal, scream, and growl (like the incredible hulk). You love to mimic and will imitate sounds and short syllables. You say "da-da" non-stop and cry for "ba-ba". Ba-ba does not mean bottle in your world so we aren't sure what or who ba-ba stands for. 

Simon and Sophie have become fascinating to you. You follow them from room to room and like to sit near them at all times. Your new thing is to clank their food bowls together and to splash in the water bowl. I can say from experience that the clean-up after said splashing is not awesome. 

Pip you currently weigh 20 pounds. You are an awesome eater and are willing to try new foods. Your favorite foods are still sweet potato, acorn and butternut squash, bananas, and carrots. We introduced cheerios this month and you love to feed yourself now. The pups are also big fans of this seeing as you drop more food on the floors than actually goes in your mouth. 

I know I say this every month, but by far this month is my favorite. As you become more autonomous we can do more things. This month has brought coffee dates, trips to Barnes and Noble, dance parties in the living room, another roadtrip, and dinners out with friends. 

I cannot wait to see what your 10th month will bring!