I’ve been meaning to blog for Elle’s 9th month post, archiving what she was up to on her 8th month, but I’ve gotten busy and Elle seems to be a little more clingy.  As we speak, I’m speed-blogging while Perze walks her to sleep. That’s their routine and bonding time.

The biggest thing she learned at 8 months was walking. Yes! She took her first steps mid-8th month and gained the drive to practice more and more steps as the days and weeks went by. The first time I saw her take a couple steps was on mom’s kitchen table, in front of all of us.  Supposedly, this wasn’t the first time she took her first steps, as seen by Perze days before it.  But since I’m blogging, we’re gonna go with that for now, but definitely on her 8th month :).  That’s a month earlier than her two sisters.

Also, she understands some words now like “clap” and “hi” “bye”.  She’ll clap and wave her hands.  She’ll also raise her hand to the sky when you say “Praise the Lord!”  She also started learning “NO”, curious to test what happens when she continues with illegal acts. Sometimes, she’ll smile at me and give me a kiss. Perze says that she tends to look down when he says “NO” to her, as if ashamed.

She also LOVES to climb the stairs, which poses one of our biggest concerns since now, we have to blockade up-and-downstairs.  Sometimes though, we’ll accompany her up the stairs so she gets comfortable with the climb. 

Also, when she hears a song, or when you sing along, she’ll sway side to side and clap her hands. Sometimes, I even catch her singing to choir songs in the car.  I don’t say anything to her so she doesn’t get distracted.  It’s nice that she’s learning how to entertain herself musically.

So far, she has 8 teeth, all that have been a pain for us while growing, deflecting her bottle on consecutive days. Her hair is also hilarious- a hybrid of Emma and Zienne- long in the front and stubborn in the back. 

Thankfully, the weather is so warm lately, so I take her outside a lot with her sisters.  Sometimes, we’ll have picnics right outside the house so she can get the feeling of cool grass between her toes while she walks.  Sometimes, I’ll bring them to the park so she can swing, which she really enjoys. Sometimes, I’ll just stroll her in her stroller so she can enjoy being outside. She loves it. It makes me really appreciate where we live- the sounds of all the kids outside playing, and people walking, biking, walking their dogs, people playing tennis.  It certainly is a friendly community. 

• Tags: 9months, elle, elleonai, milestones, walking