Michaela is doing so many neat new things I have decided to start organizing them by developmental category:
Gross motor skills: Michaela is semi-mobile but doesn't go far enough to be dangerous:) She army crawls in a 360 degree circle and sometimes backward, but not forward. To get to toys out of her reach she goes from a sitting position to hands and knees, sometimes even hands and feet (like the downward dog yoga pose), grabs the toy and then collapse on her tummy or walks with her hands back to a seated position. This move takes a lot of balance and coordination, so we are surprised that she doesn't just crawl to make things easier. Michaela likes to sleep on her tummy with her knees tucked under her and her butt in the air. She enjoys throwing her toys and has a great arm. She throws more often with her right arm, although up to this point she seemed to be more of a lefty. Grandma Voyticky taught her how to clap her hands and now she extends this to clapping two toys together.
Fine motor skills: Michaela has a decent pincer grasp. She won't put finger foods in her mouth, but will put everything else in her mouth that she's not supposed to eat.
Feeding: This month Michaela started eating yogurt with fruit and she loves it! So now she is 5-6 nursings and 2-3 solid feedings: oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, and vegetables. She won't eat lumpy foods or finger foods...she makes this funny gagging face and spits it out, sometimes she even throws up from gagging so hard:( Maybe when she gets some teeth she will be more interested.
Teething: Toward the end of the month, Michaela cut her first 2 teeth on the bottom middle. She was only fussy for a day or so.
Language: She says most of her consonants now, followed by an "a" (ma, da, ba, la...). She says "da da" more often than "ma ma" now! We have been teaching her some baby sign language but she hasn't picked it up yet.
Growth rate: Michalea has slowed down her weight gain and increased her height gain. She is probably starting to even out her growth since she picked up weight so fast after being born at a low weight. On her 9 month birthday she measured in at 17 lbs 6 ounces (25%) and 27.5 inches (57%).
Check out her growth progression at http://www.mybirthcare.com/favorites/babygrowth.asp and use the folowing info to log in:e-mail: michaela@m.com password: mcnally
