Nine Months

It's summertime! Caroline marked her nine month birthday in Tybee Island, Georgia -- a lovely beach just outside of Savannah. We were lucky enough to spend the week of Independence Day frolicking in the sun and sand. It was great!


I had heard many stories of babies that don't like the beach and the sand, but I was relieved to quickly learn that that's not the case of Miss Caroline. She loved the ocean and hooted and laughed when the waves smacked her legs and butt (and sometimes her face, when mama took a tumble in the surf). She only complained a little about being sunscreened-up 26 times a day -- and loved the sand. As you can see from the picture below, she didn't mind being covered from head to toe in sand all day, and even tasted a sample every now and then.

In short, Caroline did all that we asked of her -- flexiblility with naps and eating, not minding wet clothes and diapers, late bedtimes -- and she did it with good humor and only her normal amount of complaining. It was a GREAT time.

Caroline's nine month birthday is also a watershed in my mind of "time out versus time in" -- and if I think that her birth was miraculous, then seeing how she's changed in the last nine months since then is flat out amazing. She's gone from a baby lump to a baby girl with a full fledged, strong personality -- who can show us what she wants and work to get it herself if she thinks we're moving slowly. For example, Caroline is now crawling -- albeit in her own special "crawl, turn, scoot, lunge, roll, turn, crawl" sort of way. The other day she protested being left in the office momentarily to crawl into the living room to join us. She's up on her feet -- pulling up on furniture, the edge of the tub, and her crib -- and also doing a very cute "downward facing dog" with her hands and feet on the floor and butt up in the air. Its only a matter of time before she's toddling around the house.

Caroline is also very expressive. She doesn't cry very often -- but she does yell. Loudly. We're working on "little voice" but it doesn't seem to be catching on quite yet. She protests loudly when left alone, when she's out of blueberries, during diaper changes, or when she's overtired or hungry. Of course, she also yells when she sees her favorite people, plays with her favorite toy, during games and fun, and when reading books. She's an equal opportunity yeller.

Caroline is a happy curious girl who likes to be on the move. We've been BUSY -- in Denver at the beginning of June, then to Buffalo for Jill's wedding shower, to the beach, and back to Buffalo for her Christening. Caroline (and us too!) love seeing new places and certainly family. Caroline has fully embraced day care and is busy showing the boys in her classroom (and they're mostly boys) who is boss. Seems we have to work on "sharing" a little bit more. And we're looking forward to more travel in August for a spate of family weddings. Can't wait!