Letters from Pemberley

You can really see her teeth!

Before anyone asks, yes, my kids’ hair seems to look reddish in pictures right after it’s been washed, but no, it’s not in person.  (Here are the older three at 9 months.)

Janie is a happy, mostly healthy 9 month old!  She crawls everywhere and puts everything in her mouth.  Her favorite chew toys are crayons and electrical plugs.  She wants to climb up on everything.  She can pull herself up and cruise a bit but is not standing on her own yet.  She’s less wiggly than Susanna and will sit in her high chair pretty well, just collapsing over to the side in boredom when I’ve neglected her too long.  She’s eating finger foods like cheerios, puffs, corn, cheese, bread crumbs, and soft beans.  I try to puree whatever we’re eating for dinner, and the most surprising thing she has liked is curried butternut squash soup!  This time around, I made it a little too spicy, but Janie hasn’t complained at all.  We have the go-ahead to start her on eggs, so I guess we’ll go for that next.

Janie usually smiles when she sees you and only cries hard when hurt, teething or sick.  Tooth #3 just popped through on top, and one or two more are on their way up there.  She’s not great about napping anywhere but her crib, but she’ll last fairly calmly in her stroller for long stretches.  I can tell that she’s cranky, but most people are amazed at how well she does when I tell them she’s missing a nap.  I do try to limit skipped naps, though it’s harder with the big kids wanting to get out and do stuff.  Her siblings love her and maul her and sometimes are too rough with her, but she calms down pretty well for me.  She is a Mommy’s Girl.  Derek’s laugh scares her, and she is up and down on the separation anxiety front.  She won’t take a bottle anymore because I got lazy about having her try.  She is a pretty efficient nurser during the day, though she does like to snuggle in and take her time when she gets in bed with me in the morning.  I’ve always liked that snuggly first morning feeding.  She’s nursing about 4 times a day plus a dream feed just on one side.  She only sometimes will eat solids for our sitters, so it’s a pain to leave her.  Fortunately Hannah and Myia are both okay with letting her cry when they’ve done everything they can.  When she had the stomach bug a couple weeks back, my biggest clue that she was under the weather was how lethargic she was when we smiled and her and made faces.  She has a really cute scrunchy face in that last picture above that she has been making a lot lately.

She loves to play Pat-a-cake and to have us sing to her.  She isn’t making any regular talking sounds yet, so we’re going to work on that this next month on the road!  She has dropped her 3rd catnap most of the time and seems to make do with sleeping 6:30-6:30, 9-11ish, and 1:30-3:30ish.  She’s still in 9 month clothes (the 12 month pants are way too long), and I’m moving her up to size 3 diapers mainly because that’s the size Susie is in, and I’m sick of people putting them in each other’s diapers in the nursery.  (She’s still in mediums in cloth, though.)  Her hair looks like it’s going to be straight like Lizzie’s.  She likes splashing in the bathtub (and the kids love helping to bathe her, so I really should do it more than once a week).  She likes swings for short amounts of time, but prefers to get back into Mommy’s arms.

We had a good check-up yesterday.  Elizabeth was really nervous about Janie getting her finger pricked (for her iron test) and getting her shots, but Janie actually handled it just fine.  She’s growing and developing well, tracking pretty much the same as she has thusfar.

Height: 27.75 inches (56% –Susie was about 28 in, Elizabeth was 27 in, and Tommy was 28 1/8 in)

Weight: 16 lbs 13.5 oz (28%–Susie was 16 lbs 1 oz [at 10 months], Elizabeth was 18 lbs, and Tommy was 20 lbs 9 oz)

Head Circumference: 17.5 inches (69%)