Spunky, motivated Hazel Ruth is nine months old! When I look at her, I am surprised to realize that she’s closer to toddlerhood now than she is babyhood. She’s getting so strong, dexterous, and capable…which means she can get into all sorts of new things.
Hazel has had some fun adventures in her last month. One Saturday, we went to the zoo with our friends and their daughter. This was the first trip for both Hazel and Hudson; she was mostly relegated to the tandem stroller seat while he walked. She was pretty content to chill while we looked at animals, but she should be more into it next summer.
She and Hudson also got to go to the pool for the first time. The water was a touch on the cooler side, but once she got acclimated, she was pretty happy to splash in the kiddie pool with one of us holding her. This was excellent practice for our next big adventure, which was a trip to the Outer Banks last week. She enjoyed the wind and the waves and the occasional dunk of her feet in the surf. She also enjoyed eating sand a little too much, so she had to be supervised every moment. Like the zoo, this is something she’ll be big enough to really enjoy next season.
She has been crawling and pulling up everywhere for weeks. She even crawls over obstacles in the floor and is beginning to cruise. After showing no initial interest in the push toy I brought upstairs, she all of a sudden took off walking behind without missing a step, like she’d been practicing for weeks. She will also hold your fingers and walk with you for quite a ways. And when cruising I swear I have seen her stand without holding anything for a fraction of a second between steps. Knowing her, I will not be surprised if she’s walking well before her first birthday.
She is saying a few new sounds, but I’m not convinced that she’s trying to say actual words yet. She does know “dog” and will turn her head to look at Murphy when I say the word. She’s also made a “dah” sound in his direction a few times, but I’m skeptical until she can prove it to me. “Dog” was Hudson’s first word, though, so who knows?
She also just started shaking her head “no.” It’s pretty adorable because she’ll look at you, grin really big, then wag her head back and forth. However, I don’t know that she understands what “no” means yet–she’s at least still not heeding my frantic plea when she beelines for the dog food. It also may just mean that I have a stubborn one on my hands, sigh.
She likes to eat and is very fond of table food. Despite only having one tooth, she will make an attempt to gnaw on tiny bits of anything I give her, including chicken. Spoon fed options are acceptable, but I feel she’s waning in interest lately.
Sleep–now that’s the big one. Historically, Hazel has not been great in this category, though ever so slow process was being made the last month or so. We weathered the eight month sleep regression, when she was so compelled to stand up in her crib for a week that she would never fall asleep. Then during our week at the beach, her sleep was a total mess. Be it sleeping in a strange place or in a strange bed or being off schedule, her nights were a wreck. I despaired of any relief. But once we got her home, it’s been almost miraculous: she might wake up and fuss for a minute, but she’s largely been putting herself back to sleep and sleeping basically all night! I’ve still gone in once a couple of nights, but if this keeps up I will be SO relieved to have finally crossed some sort of line to a reasonable nighttime schedule. I’ll give it another week or two before calling this one a victory, but I am reveling in it now.
Hazel, you are one spunky little girl, mild-mannered about some things and fiercely opinionated about others. I hope this doesn’t bode ill for me when you become a toddler, but right now it’s fun. Will you be walking by our next update? I guess we’ll see.
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