Jazzy Stones X

Jasmine Olivia hit the 9-month mark about a week ago, and had her 9-month check-up just yesterday. On the way home from the doctor's office, I was trying to think about the things I could include in this milestone update... but then last night she did something that pretty much trumped everything I could possibly write about. She took six steps unassisted. I don't think my bottom jaw could have hit the floor any faster. I was on the phone with V when it happened... and all she could hear was a chorus me saying, "Holy cow... holy cow... holy cow... " She's been standing and balancing without help for over a month (and balancing well at that) and will basically run across the room if you give her fingers to hold onto... so we knew that it would only be a matter of time before enough confidence kicked it in for her to take a few steps on her own. But somehow it was still shocking when she actually did it. Incredible. And as I look back at Justin's 9-month blog entry, it's weird to read about him "starting to crawl", and "beginning to balance" at the same age. Funny part is, he took (what seemed like) forever to crawl, but went from there to walking more than crawling in about 6 weeks. So while sistergirl has been crawling for (gosh I don't even remember) almost 3 months now (?) ... I'm anxious to see how long she'll stay at this in-between stage. Once her brother figured out the walking thing, crawling was out the window. So I'm waiting with bated breath to see what she remembers from yesterday's milestone stroll across the living room.



As for other happenings, Jasmine Olivia...

is still drooling like a monster, but still hasn't beat her brother in the teeth department. She's got zero... which is the same number he had until just 3 weeks shy of turning one.

still cries to be left alone at pretty much any time of day. If she can't see you, she is simply not happy. I guess that means she'll be a social creature like her momma. On the other hand, I'll have to check with V on this one, but I will say that I think this is starting to shift just a little bit. I've been leaving her in a different room a lot more lately; sometimes with Justin and sometimes without. And the panic that usually ensues in her breathing finally seems to be lessening each day.

is 28 inches tall and 15.5 pounds. She also took her needle without crying yesterday, which just further cements her reputation as the thug of the house. With respect to measurements, she's in the 60th, 8th, and 75th percentiles with respect to height, weight and head. Yep, we're two-for-two in making lean big headed babies. Any questions?

is still exclusive to breast-milk, but will also down 3 to 5 jars of baby food during the course of the day. She has also seen her fair share of table food. Speaking of which, have you ever seen those squirrels that are always within 4 feet of the picnic table... just waiting for you to drop a crumb or two so they can swoop in at the speed of light and catch the falling food before you know what happened? Or those vultures that circle a wounded animal, knowing that a meal will soon be on the way... Well... that's Jasmine when it comes to Justin's dining room table. It didn't take long before she identified him as the weakest link (i.e., the one most likely to leave food unattended). And so, when it's time for him to eat, she just stands there. And watches. And waits. Because it will only be a few minutes before his attention deficit kicks in and his plate is sitting there unattended. Begging her to gooble as much as she can before someone finds her out. Hence her code name... agent crumb snatcher.



But back to her eating habits... It's funny how quickly we can sometimes forget about particular struggles we have once something shifts in a different direction. Just that quickly my memories are starting to fade with respect to how DIFFICULT it was to get her to eat or drink ANYTHING. We tried feeding in in silence, with a little background noise, with lots of noise, in front of Justin, hidden in the back room, with television, no television, football hold, cross-cradle, warm milk, cold milk... lol.. you name it. It was a fiasco. And just like that, poof, distant memories. Now granted, she'll never match the appetite that Justin had in infancy (after every time we fed him, I vaguely remember having to count my fingers to make sure they were all there)... but I'm excited to say that the food struggles are (mostly) behind us. Granted, she's still nosey as all get out... which is what we've always attributed her poor appetite to; she rather be nosey than eat... but at least now she understands the value of a good meal.

loves to smack her lips and mimic the kissing sound of "muah". And she is infatuated with waving goodbye. She does it so much, it's a wonder that her hand doesn't fall off. She also does it on cue. And what's cool is she'll do it whether you say "bye bye" or "adios". Speaking of "adios"... I know we're miles away from it, I'm but already excited for Justin that he'll eventually have a bilingual buddy to talk to. The only down side to raising him bilingual (with a slight tilt to the spanish side) is watching the "what are you talking about" look other people give him when to talks to them in spanish. Or the look that he gives them when they say basic things in english that he doesn't get. Although, I will say that he seems to be speaking more and more english lately. I wonder if that's a product of frustration he might feel when people (including us at times) don't get what he's saying. Or is it just an attempt to better assimilate since just about everyone else he knows speaks english. But I digress... after all, this is Jasmine's entry!

still has much attitude. As laid back as Justin could be at times, Jasmine is adamant about what she does and doesn't want. I remember at 3 months thinking, there's no way she threw that toy at me on purpose. Well... fast forward 6 months and let's just say that we've learned to ignore the crashing sounds when things go flying from her high chair to the floor. And don't let it be nap time. Attitude. Just close the door and turn the monitors off. She's gotta fall asleep eventually, right? Anyway, I can go on and on and on... but the bottom line is, we've got one child who is certainly not happy when she doesn't get her way. I have NO CLUE where she could get such stubbornness from (no grandparent comments allowed, thank you). And for some reason, as she gets older, I have a feeling that this is going to equate to more problems for daddy than for mommy. Call it a hunch.

Yet, with that said, the positive side is that she is superb at listening when you tell her "no". She stops what she's doing immediately and comes crawling with her lip poked out... Unlike another child I know who hears the word no and somehow translates to "do it one more time and then stop." (why are my parents laughing as they read this? I wonder).

Last but not least, don't tell anybody I said this but, I swear the girl can talk sometimes. Granted, she's been doing the da-da-da-da thing for a while, and she is a parrot with most other sounds... but every now and then... she'll say something that, if I was more than 1/2 crazy, I'd swear was a sentence. And it's not just me. V and I will be standing in the kitchen and as Jasmine yells something from the other room, we both whiplash towards each other with that look like, "did you hear that?".... It's crazy. Now I know that the speech thing is a definite part of girls learning faster than boys (which I believe to be absolute fact)... but if it starts this early, then I'll simply be beside myself. For now though, I'm content to just think that I'm hearing things. I'll let you know if that changes.

So that's the haps on our little step-taking momma. Consider yourself updated.