9 Months

The Monkey is 9 months today. Nine whole months. Blink and she will be 9 years old and rushing off to school.

Trying to paint a picture of the Monkey right now without colour is impossible. She is just so vibrant. At the moment she is standing up at a miniature "piano" bashing away at the colourful keys, before cruising around to the TV and patting the News Presenter reassuringly.

As she trundles along she keeps up a stream of banter "Ba Ba Ba" punctuated by giggles and heady excitement when she sees the cat. "Sssss Ssssss" she hisses between her 3 hilarious teeth when she sees him, and if we happen to ask her "Where's Oscar?" She will whip her little head around in a frenzy trying to find him.

She loves to sit and play with blocks or puzzles, or to push little cars around the floor (before picking them up and chewing on them - long strings of drool hanging delicately from the wheels). She loves exploring and getting outside into the thin sunshine and feeling its warmth on her face.

She is at times noisy and bashes toys with glee, and at others quietly contemplative. She truly looks at people and is very sensitive to expression. She will be my quiet baby I think, interested in the world from the comfort of herself. Introspective. In looks she is very much a miniature of her father's impish looks, but in personality she is truly me.

She loves to eat, she still loves boob and she will seek out food left on high tabletops that you assume (erroneously) that she can't reach. She's not picky and will give everything a go, but is not overly fond of slimy textures (banana/avocado) or thin puree (any bottled stuff that we've tried). She prefers stuff with texture and flavour.

Sleep wise we have well and truly turned a corner. At home she has 2 daytime sleeps of about 90 minutes (plus or minus an hour), and goes to bed at 6:00pm (sometimes a little later) she then usually wakes at about 12:00am and then either sleeps through to 5:30am or wakes at 4:00am (my favourite) then sleeps in til 7:00am. SO I am getting plenty of sleep now and feel like the proverbial million bucks because of it. The biggest contributors to increased sleep have been buying a sleeping bag (immobilises her a bit and keeps her warm), turning off all lights and sounds when the girls go to bed, making sure she eats enough during the day, earlier nightfall, just getting older.

At 9 months I love her more now then I did when she was a helpless snuggly newborn. She is such a cheeky Monkey, and her little grin while she's suckling melts my heart. For 9 months I held her close within me, my baby, our secret relationship. 9 months of sickness and sadness and fear and joy. Then her birth, that miraculous, cataclysmic event that made her entrance to the world as amazing and as awe inspiring as it should have been. Now 9 months of cheeky grins, milestones, rosy cheeks and warm night time snuggles.

It seemed fitting if not bittersweet to realise at about 8:30 this morning, 9 months almost to the minute that she was born, 9 months more to when her life started that I had started bleeding.