Maya turns Nine Months Old!

My princess is 9 months old now. At her last check up, she was weighing 19 pounds and 4 ounces and measuring 28 inches long. And there is so much she can do. Maya has mastered the sitting position and she can now go from sitting to crawling with great ease. It's awesome because I was always so worried about her banging her head on the ceramic tile. Now, she sits for awhile and when she gets tired, she goes to crawling. Her preferred method is still the army crawl, but she does crawl on her hands and knees at times. If she sees a toy that gets her attention, she'll work really hard to get to it. She can stand if her hold her hands, but she won't pull herself up or hold on to furniture yet and believe me, I am in no rush.

She's getting much better with a sippy cup and she does really well with finger foods. In fact, we often give her table food and she really seems to enjoy it. She's definitely got a sweet tooth though so I have to be on the look out for that. And Maya babbles on and on and on. While she only makes the ma-ma sound when she's crying/whining, she has clearly started to say da-da when she sees daddy. She loves to play, especially with Jayden and she can hold her own against him. More often than not, Jayden will be the one to call for help 'cause Maya grabs him by the hair or tries to bite him. She is STILL not sleeping through the night and I really wish she would. Will I ever get a good night's sleep again?

Boy is she a pistol! I've always had a pretty good idea of what Maya's personality would be like, but now Daddy is starting to see it too and we both agree. This little girl is going to keep us on our toes. It's amazing how different a baby she is compared to Jayden at that age. He was so easy going. I only had to worry about feeding him on schedule. That's it. Well times have changed! Maya has a strong personality and if she doesn't get what she wants, look out. One of the new things she's started to do this month is screaming at the top of her lungs. I'm telling you; it's amazing she hasn't burst her voice box. If Jayden takes her toy away or Mommy walks in the opposite direction, she goes bonkers. It's hard trying to set limits, but I try to teach her that no matter how loud she cries, kicks and screams, I am no longer going to come running. Well, sometimes I give in, but it's a work in progress. She's always fussing about one thing or another and I constantly have to change her position or environment. She gets bored really fast and her naps are more like cat naps. I have zero free time with her because every time I set her down and try to do something, she starts to flail her arms and lets and cry about one thing or another.

Maya has also decided that she loves to bite and she's going to do it whenever she can. Fair warning! If you pick her up and her mouth comes anywhere near exposed skin, I can guarantee that she's going to chomp down. I've got several bruises to prove it. I am in the process of teaching her that biting is not acceptable, which is so hard. What I do is let her get close and let her teeth touch my skin and the second I feel her bearing down, I start to pat her rear end. The harder she tries to bite and the more she persists, the firmer I pat and say "No biting." So far, this is working well. A couple of pats on the tushy and she's reminded that biting is a no-no and I feel great because I can teach her without hurting her. {Sigh.} My baby is growing up.