It seems like Emily grew a month older in the span of a weekend. There are three new things that she is all of a sudden doing as of last weekend.
First, she has started to feed herself Cheerios. This came out of nowhere. We've been feeding her Cheerios since December 5th, but she has NEVER showed any inclination to feed herself. She plays with them and picks them up, but maybe only once or twice has even attempted to put them in her mouth. All of a sudden, during her afternoon feeding last Saturday (January 2nd), she started to feed herself. It started with her sippy cup. She grabbed it with both hands, tilted her head back as far as she could, and started drinking all by herself (which was also a first). When she put the cup down, she reached out, grabbed a Cheerio and put it in her mouth! She then grabbed another and did it again. She has been completely feeding herself Cheerios ever since! Her initial method was to pick up a Cheerio in the palm of her left hand, and then use her right thumb and index finger to grab it and put it in her mouth. Now she picks them up any way she can, and puts basically her entire hand into her mouth, and pulls it out while trying to keep the Cheerio inside. It's pretty cute. She is definitely getting very good at it though!
Second, she has started giving "kisses". If she is in the right mood and I hold my cheek out and say "Kiss Mom", she will lean in and give me a huge, very wet, open-mouthed kiss. It is the sweetest thing. But, if she is not in the mood, she will instead reach out with her hand and push my face away. Not quite as sweet. I will definitely take kisses 50% of the time over no kisses at all, though!
Finally, she said "mama" last Sunday in response to "Emily, can you say mama?" She did it twice in a row and it was a very clear "mama", unlike her usual "mamamama" babbles. She did it a few more times before she went to bed. It was pretty neat! She now does it a few times a day, but we don't think she really knows what she's saying.
Emily had her 9-month doctor's appointment. She is officially 19 3/8" long and 19 lbs, 6 oz. She's in the 93rd percentile for length, which is down from her last percentile, but the doctor says that the length measurements are not very accurate right now, since she may refuse to fully extend her legs when she gets measured. So I'm guessing that she's still on track to be very tall.
I finally got all of the Christmas pictures processed. They're on Flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91322099@N00/sets/72157623184727944/
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