Aven: 8-9 Months

Aven is 9 months old today! She has developed so much personality over this past month it is amazing (and hilarious) to watch!

Measurements: Considering how active Aven is, it’s no surprise that she is still 18 lbs (8.2 kilos) but now is 29 inches! (74 cm)

Mobility
While this month did not see Aven start to walk as I had predicted in last months post, her gross motor skills are continuing to develop at an incredible pace. Her spacial awareness in much more advanced then before. She will now duck under objects to avoid hitting her head, and she loves the tunnels at Gymboree! She is also a crazy climber – the other day Daddy turned his back just for a minute and she had managed to scamper from the floor right up onto the top of her stroller! She can also reach the table top and piano keyboard when standing on the floor and is always trying to do chin ups on these. She continues to cruise along furniture and walk around pushing her shopping cart, stroller, a box or anything that moves! She is a super speedy crawler and can wiggle herself out of any situation – especially diaper changes and getting dressed. It is an Olympic sport!

Eating
Aven continues her love of eating. While bread products and hard boiled eggs are still her favourite foods, she still will eat just about anything we give her. New foods she’s tried (and loved) this month are my homemade chili, broccoli quiche, sweet potato and carrot soup as well as a pesto pasta casserole and quinoa and shrimp skillet. I can give this kid anything! She has also mastered drinking from a straw and has made improvements on drinking from an open cup. She doesn’t drip nearly as much and is also sputtering less (that could also be an improvement in mama’s “helping” skills)! Aven has abandoned breastfeeding all together and sadly pumping once a day wasn’t enough to keep up my milk supply so she is solely a formula baby now. She will have approximately 24 oz of formula in 4 bottles a day to supplement the solid food she is chowing down.

Aven still just has the 2 front bottom teeth which are quite prominent now!

Sleeping
What a difference a month makes! Having worked through our plan laid out by Jennifer at SleepDreams, I am so happy to say that Aven is a sleeping champ!! (Mama still needs some work however). While she still has occasional rough nights, for the most part Aven will sleep 12 hours at night with just one break in the middle for a bottle and diaper change. Those nights that are “rougher” I may need to go in once or twice more to help her settle, but they are few and far between, I know how to best help her and she is back to sleep in minutes! Such a far cry from up every 45 minutes all night long. Most of the time she stirs and puts herself back to sleep. Now I just need to get my sleep sorted out and we’ll be golden!

Personality
Aven’s personality has really shone through this month. She is a mischievous, happy, silly girl who loves to laugh! She will laugh at anything and everything, even playing with an empty box by herself. She makes crazy faces and loves to growl! Adri is still her favourite person, and often the only one she will calm down for when she is crying in the car – she loves her sisters voice! The bond between them is amazing, I love to watch them.

Likes
Soother
Cruising
Chewing electrical cords!
Her sister
Bouncing
Walking with her Fisher Price shopping cart
Pattycake
Mirrors
Playing with the pedals on the piano
“Strumming” daddy’s guitar
Swinging and sliding in the park
Watching birds, dogs, squirrels, cats, raccoons – whatever animals we encounter
Gymboree
Bath
Swimming
Dancing
Peekaboo!
Tickles under the armpit and on belly
Being outside
Shrieking at the top of her lungs, whether happy or sad
Growling
Climbing
Tunnels
Playing with her Activity cube
Emptying boxes and bags

Dislikes
Car seat (sometimes)
Hats
Bumbo/high chair
Being held in horizontal position
Being held facing in
Being in arms when tired
Her sister trying to pick up/carry her
Having her nose/face wiped
Getting dressed
Diaper changes

Language
Aven continues to be a chatterbox, vocalizing pretty much from morning to night. While she’s been responding to her name for a couple of months now, it’s just been in this past month that she responds accurately when we ask her “where’s mommy/daddy/Adri?” She still only says mama and dada as words, although Adri is convinced she says a different new word every day! I can wait to see what her first word for Adri will be!! She loves sounds of all kinds – from squeals to growls and everything in between. This past month she has also learned how to “sing” into her echo microphone and also vocalize while tapping her hand on her mouth (for the life of me I can’t think of what this is called! As I look back on my post last month I realize I still haven’t been very diligent in doing signs with her. She still responds to the basics that I do – perhaps that will be my New Years resolution.

It’s been a great month and after seeing how much fun Aven had with Sinterklaas, I am so looking forward to sharing next month’s post – First Christmas!!

What has your little one been doing this month?