nine and feeling fine

eden is nine months old.  she is wearing a spider onesie to support daddy who graduates today.  more on that here.

she continues to be a little eater.  if you are not interested in knowing every food she has ever eaten (which you very well might not be) feel free to skip this paragraph.  but i take great delight in making sure i record it all, especially since i cant remember it all. she has now eaten egg yolk, rice cereal, real rice, oat cereal, banana, zucchini, pear, apple, yellow squash, butternut squash, sweet potato, avocado, green beans, freeze dried mango, fresh mango, kiwi, broccoli, pickles, cucumber, carrots, celery, plums, brussels sprouts, peas, bell peppers, onions, cantaloupe, lemon wedge, dried orange, pineapple, grass, dirt, lint, straw wrappers, peaches, blueberries, and little mini egg-yolk omelets with pepper, onion, cheddar and zucchini.  yes, i introduced her to cheese and if she takes after me, it will result in a life-long love affair with cheese.  if she takes after robert...it will be sad.

she has the pincer thing down pretty well now and can pick up most food if it is the right size. meal time can be a challenge because it is the number one place we are working on obedience, but she is a very capable learner and she is starting to understand what is, and is not, ok at the dinner table. sometimes i strip her down to diapers before a meal just to cut out the stain-treating segment of the evening.  i love watching blueberry juice trickle down her chin and all the way down her tubby little belly. i cant wait to give her homemade fruit-cicles when its warmer.  

ok and she loooooooooves cars, which her papa j calls zoom zooms with her and so now so do i. she nearly gets whiplash each time one drives by, jerking her head from side to side so as not to miss one moment.  i love her fascination.  and i love showing her things she has never ever encountered before like a new taste or texture or sight.  its amazing to watch her watch things, which i know many people observe about parenthood.  

she is able to stand for a few seconds by herself not holding onto anything.  she only does it once she has real good footing and then she removes one hand at a time from whatever crutch she was using. then she gets this really surprised and delighted look on her face, just before she falls over.  every day she is standing more and more.  i think she will be walking soon, she likes to walk holding on my hands.

still no teeth!  what the heck? please tell me some of you mamas waited at least nine months before you saw a tooth.  will eden be the first toothless adult?  i hope not.  she is cute, but not that cute.

ok one more thing i love is how she buries her head into my chest when she deems it necessary.  sometimes i am holding her and someone smiles at her and she smiles and burrows in, peaking out again to make sure she is still being watched and repeating over and over this to constant 'awwwwwwssss' from her admirers.  and sometimes she is having an absolute melt down and as soon as she gets in my lap and burrows in, she is good.  and either way i love it because, more than our apartment, or her crib, or anything else, i am home to her. i am her home.  i love that.

just a few more months and ill have myself a one year old.  who in the world saw that coming?