As much as I want to be sentimental and dwell on the fact that Zoe has been with us for three-quarters of a year now (!) I will stick with the facts and report on what she’s been up to this past month…

The big development, of course, is Zoe’s ability to get around. As documented on this blog, she graduated from her inchwarm crawl to a real, on-the-knees-and-hands crawl this month. It quickly became routine for Zoe to crawl across a room to reach an object of interest; for example, she often scoots over to her box of toys and plucks one from the top. More recently, she has crawled longer distances – down our long hallway and from room to room. She’s especially fond of crawling back and forth between me and Q (if we’re in different parts of the house).

Zoe recently started showing interest in non-crawling type movements; when in a standing position and holding someone’s hands, she can now take tippy-toe steps forward. And just this past weekend, she stood on her own (holding on to the edge of the bed for support) for the first time. I don’t want to rush the “cruising” or walking thing, though – I think crawling is a big enough development for now!

In terms of personality, the key word for Zoe is “curious.” Zoe, like other 9-month-olds, is constantly looking around, and reaching for, grabbing and crawling towards objects of interest. If she hears the most common of sounds (a cough, a sneeze, the garage door going up when her dad gets home, etc.) she’ll stop what she’s doing and stare in the direction of the noise. And, as she has done for several months now, she tries to get anything and everything in her hands or mouth: remote controls, telephones, toys, food, hair, glasses, necklaces, etc. (You have to be quite careful what you have around her!)

Zoe continues to be as happy as ever; Elena tells me that other parents at daycare still often comment how she is always smiling… Things that make Zoe particularly happy: flying through the air with her dad, bouncing on her Jumparoo, being fed by a train (“choo choo”), hearing the Itsy-Bitsy Spider and playing crib peek-a-boo. Favorite toys include her little rubber ducks (still), a toy phone (courtesy of our local Sprint store) and anything that sings or makes interesting noises.

I feel like a broken record saying it, but Zoe still loves to eat. A few weeks ago, she began picking up small objects (little pieces of bread, Cheerio-type puffs, etc.) and putting them in her mouth. She recently started eating meat dishes, but she is still most fond of the old stand-bys: bananas, applesauce, sweet peas, etc. She has gained a few ounces since the 8-month mark; she’s currently just shy of 20 pounds.

And another broken-record comment: she’s just so much fun to be around. Each stage is better than the one before, I think!

-M

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 5:25 am and is filed under 12.Nine to ten months. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.