Breezing past 9 months and not looking back

I have just returned from Lexi’s 9-month check-up at the pediatrician. As usual, she passed with flying colors. Here are her latest stats:

Height: 73 cm (28.74 in)
Weight: 8.3 kg (18.3 lb)

The doctor said she’s a bit under average for her weight. Sarah and I had made our usual list of questions for the doctor, and one of them was about when we could start her on cow’s milk. He said that the formula that we are buying here to feed her is derived from cow’s milk, so she could easily make the transition now, but because she’s below weight, he recommended keeping her on formula, which has protein added and which will help her add some weight.

I wanted to explain that probably one reason she’s below weight is because she’s getting too much exercise. She’s now joining me at the gym daily. Just kidding. But she is as physically as active as ever. Since about the beginning of this month, she has quickly gained good coordination of her limbs to be crawling in a normal way. In the first few days of crawling so that she was actually moving, it was sometimes upsetting to her. She would stop every few minutes and just cry. It seemed to be so much work for her little body. I was worried that she just hadn’t figured out yet why she needed to crawl, that she was still just doing it because instinct told her so. But now, while she still hasn’t totally figured out the benefits of crawling – so she can move around well and go get things to go to people – she’s not distressed by it so much now. It’s just so cute to see her little hips move back and forth and for this little body to be moving around below foot.

And we were also worried for a few weeks there that she would bypass crawling for walking. As reported earlier on this blog, she was beginning to get on her feet by pulling herself up to a standing position in her crib. She is having a lot of fun being held up and walking with an adult’s assistance.

She also has a lot of fun just crawling and climbing on people, like if someone lies down next to her on the bed or if she’s lying next to someone on the couch. She really enjoys cuddling next to someone or the challenge of climbing up onto them so she’s in a standing position.

In all of this, late last week she turned 9 months old. On that day I asked her what she preferred – living on the inside or outside of Mommy, since she had spent an equal amount of time in both places. She seemed to say that she preferred it on the outside or has chosen to stay out here because she seems to like exploring the house and moving around and eating waffles for breakfast, which she couldn’t do before she was born. Fortunately, my parents, who are called Baba and Lolo, are visiting us in Nairobi for several weeks, so we were able to have a little birthday celebration complete with a candle and a pineapple upside-down cake that I had made.

It seems that all of Lexi’s development and getting older is taking place at lightning speed, but we’re so proud of her for all the ways she is growing up.