9 Months!

Nina is nine months old!

Here are a few of the recent happenings with our big 9-month-old:

• Movement! Nina is crawling! She has finally mastered the forward crawl, sometimes with a little kick hitch out to the side to add a little flair, sometimes trying to get up in a bear crawl. I had forgotten how fun it is to be able to watch and see where she wants to go, rather than just deciding that for her. We'll try to get a video up soon.
  
• Hair! Nina's hair is finally growing and so far, it is curly on top, more curls than her sister had at this stage.
  
• Teeth! Nina's mouth has gone from 2 teeth to 6 teeth this month, with four top teeth coming in all at the same time. Needless to say, there have been a few more middle-of-the-night awakenings -- who could blame her with that going on in her little mouth?
  
• Attitude! We're not sure if it's the teeth, the newfound independence with the crawling, or maybe the curls, but Nina is showing a little more spunk these past couple weeks. Most surprising is when this appears in the form of loud shrieks -- when she's not getting the toy she wants, when her sister is a little too much up in her grill (add this to her list of sisterly love defense mechanisms, along with the always-effective hair pull), or when she's waiting in her high chair for those spoonfuls of oatmeal that can't come quickly enough. We find it quite amusing, though also wonder, where'd our mellow baby go?

Here are a few more pictures of Nina this month. The family picture particularly cracks me up, as it is horrible of all of us but Nina, who couldn't be more perfectly posed!