Elle is 9 months old!

 Fun facts @ 9 months:

* Elle now weighs 18 lbs 8 ozs (50th percentile)! She's been called "chunky" by a few people. What can we say, she has inherited Daddy & Mommy Jarbs' love for food. She is also 28.75 inches tall (90th percentile).

* Elle can pull up to standing position

* Can play while standing up and holding on to something

* Can sit up or lay down intentionally
* Claps hands when she is excited and when she hears her favorite music

* Gives us "five" when we say "hi-five"

* Waves her hands when we say bye bye

* Raises her hands/arms when she's dancing

* Completely weaned off of the pacifier! Yay!

* Sleeps from 8 pm to 6:30 am. She used to wake up at 7 am but has moved her wake up time to 6:30 am. She would quietly play in the crib though and then start fussing when she is ready to be picked up. During the past couple of days, we found her sitting quietly in her crib while waiting for Daddy Jarbs to come get her.

* Still loves to give kisses both on command and voluntarily. She LOVES making out with her stuffed animals. She's such a sweet girl :-)

* Loves music. She has great memory and recognizes all her Filipino kids songs. Her eyes light up and get excited whenever we play her favorite songs. Elle's teacher at day care told me that she starts clapping her hands once they start music time :-).

* She hates the sports radio channel. She would complain whenever Daddy Jarbs listens to the sports radio station but would start smiling when he starts playing the cd of Filipino kids songs :-).

* Her favorite toys are her piggie lovey (which she plays while on the changing table), mini Elmo doll, board books (she loves eating them!), stacking cups, musical table, squirt/bath toys, baby doll, all her stuffed animals and the all time favorite, Sophie! She also LOVES to play with our remote control and would fight to get it lol.

* Grabs everything she can put her hands on. She either puts them straight in her mouth ot throws them away!

* Gets excited when we put her in the car seat or sees us grab the BOB stroller. She knows we're going somewhere outside the house.

* She finally cut her two top teeth! Her gums were swollen for a week now. It did not really seem to bother her as much as I thought it would. I'd like to think that the amber teething necklace I have her wear is helping alleviate the teething pain. Now, she would grind her top and bottom teeth together which sounds awful.

* Blabbers a lot..says dada, daddy, tata, baba, papa...but not mama :(. I know she is saving the best for last! :-)

* Her hair has grown a tad thicker so we can now put hair clips/barrettes. She loves to grab and eat them though :-/.

* Can play independently but wants Daddy & Mommy Jarbs to be close by. Sometimes she even plays using one hand while resting the other hand on our lap to make sure we're not going anywhere.

* Recognizes her name. She turns her head when you call her name.

* Gets so excited and starts giggling when we put her down on her crib for a nap/bedtime

* She can crawl backwards. I am expecting her to start crawling forward any day now.

* Can hold her glass milk bottles and feed herself. She also loves drinking water from her big girl sippy cup and hold them on her own. She still needs help in tilting the cups up though.

* Eats solid food 3x a day. She eats pretty much everything that we give her. This month, she has tried watermelon, yogurt, eggplant, butternut squash, broccoli, green beans, tofu. Her least favorite is green beans.

* Mastered her pincer grasp

* Tries to get on all four but one leg still gets stuck :-)

* Wears 6-9 or 6-12 month clothes and a few 12-month pajamas. She now wears size 3 shoes.