my world, my true

9 months is awfully close to 1 year. With all of her new skills, she seems pretty ready to leave her baby days behind her, and, I guess I’m coming to terms with that since she’s really left me no choice. She’s already got the toddler stuff down pat, so neither of us should have much trouble adjusting.

Lately is the most curious little girl I’ve ever met. She’s “walking,” but still crawls (and falls) a lot, too. She gets braver by the day & can walk indefinitely on an even surface when she wants to. She has also begun climbing (AKA giving Mommy multiple heart attacks everyday), talking (just last week she started saying “bye-bye”, “Da-ee” (Daddy), “Mama”, and, of course, “NO!”) and waving. I forgot how fun it is to watch them figure all of this stuff out. Her little voice is so cute, it reminds me of Knox’s at that age (and he was about the same age when he said his first real word, “Kitty”). Oh, and have I mentioned she has 6 teeth already?!

She loves to explore the outdoors. Eating grass, swinging on the swing, sliding and trying to climb up the slide, using her little push toy to walk around the yard…all current favorite pastimes. Nothing beats dancing to her favorite tunes with Daddy. She’s still loving rap but has expanded her taste to include reggae and kids music now, too.

She’s still not loving the car, but she loves getting out and about, so she has to suffer through the ride to get to a new place she can discover. We’ve gone to a couple of playgroups and she has had fun getting to know other babies (even though she tries poke their eyes out).

She and Knox, however, are working hard to find some mutual ground at the moment. The bigger (and more mobile) she has gotten, the more rough he has gotten with her and she’s not loving that. I am hoping the gap between them gets smaller and smaller the older they get.

Despite the challenges, being Lately’s mom has been such a blessing. I feel like her personality is really starting to shine this month and I feel like we’ve gotten really close, too. I can dry her tears, calm her fears and make her belly laugh like no one else, and that makes me super happy and thankful. Having a daughter really is all it’s cracked up to be, and my beautiful little lady helps me to realize it more and more every single day.