Ellis at 9 months

Ok...so I'm way late on this since Ellis turned 10 months old 3 days ago. I swear I just blinked and the month went away. Ellis has had a busy month growing and developing!

• She is gaining weight and growing, but her weight and length stats vary from the pediatrician and the GI. At the peds, she weighed 14 lbs 14.5 oz and was 26 in. A week later, she was 15 lbs 6 oz and 27.5 in. So she's somewhere in that range, but at both offices she had gained and grown and that is all that matters.
• She learned to crawl, and she is so proud of herself. She wants to explore the whole house on her hands and knees.
• She can wave bye-bye. She actually does it facing out like adults do instead of the usual facing toward herself like most babies start off doing.
• She learned to clap and enjoys playing Pat-a-Cake.
• She hums when she eats throughout the whole meal.
• She has started to warm up to other people. She will actually reach out and go to a select few people from me! To top that, she let one of our youth walk around and hold her while I was near her. I was shocked! However, when she's sleepy, she wants only me.
• She still loves to jibber jabber. Boy, will we be in trouble when she can say actual words. She's going to talk our ears off.
• She can pull up to her knees. She hasn't figured out how to pull up to a standing position but she's working on it.
• She will repeat "dada" after us, but I don't think she has made the connection of calling Paul "dada."
• She can have a temper. If you take something from her that she is very interested in, she will let you know that she is not happy with you.
• She and Parker have begun to play with each other. She will follow him and he will lead her to his room or somewhere to play. They will "talk" to each other. She will laugh at Parker.
• She is more sensitive to tastes and textures than I remember Parker being. She doesn't like her food to have little chunks in them, and when I gave her cinnamon in her applesauce, she didn't seem impressed. I hope that this doesn't mean she's going to be a picky eater.
• She's getting close to having two teeth. That second tooth is just waiting to break through the surface.
• She began picking up stuff with he pincers. She loves eating puffs. When she gets some more teeth she will be able to eat some table food.
•  She had her first trip to the beach. I'll post pictures sometime although I don't have many of her on the beach because she didn't like it.
• I celebrated my first mother's day as a mother of two thanks to her.

She is a sweet girl and generally a happy baby. She has brought so much joy to our family. I love watching her grow and develop (although I have to admit that it makes me sad that she will be one in 2 months). I can't wait to see the person she becomes. My prayer is that she will live her life for Jesus Christ.