Hayley and Kate Minter

Kate is growing and changing so rapidly that I cannot keep up with her developments in this blog. But I’ll try to play catch-up now.

She continues to experiment with sounds and vocal expression. Kate isn’t saying real words yet, but she says things that sound close. She’s pretty good at making certain sounds like “da,” “pa,” “ba,” “ma,” and “la.” So she sounds like she is saying “Dada,” “Mama,” “buhbuh” (for bubble), “bah” (for ball), and “luhluh” (for Hayley). She also makes gargling sounds, clicks her tongue, and blows bubbles with her saliva while saying “Ahhh.”

One day Wade was playing peek-a-boo with her with a t-shirt. After a few times, he put the shirt down beside them on the floor. Before he knew it, Kate picked up the shirt and put it over her head.

One evening during her bath, she was playing with a washcloth and became fascinated with dipping it into the water and watching the water drip back out of it. She repeated the motion over and over and grinned at me when she looked up and saw me watching her.

Kate still has an attachment to her little pink bear. She isn’t so obsessed with it that she won’t put it down, but she definitely likes to nap and sleep with it.

On the 24th of this month, Kate started cruising. She doesn’t do it a lot, but if something is out of her reach, she will make every effort to take a few steps toward it while keeping at least one hand on the sofa, chair, etc. She pulls up on pretty much anything she can brace herself against and stands at every opportunity. She looks at Hayley and I like she would love nothing better than to jump up and run after us. Soon enough, little Kate.

Kate’s never been particularly attached to toys or things, unsurprising since she’s only 9 months old. But today, she’s had a death grip on this pink teddy bear. Hasn’t let it out of her sight, and if she drops it, she immediately starts fussing. We went out for lunch today, and I was able to keep her awake in the car on the way home by pretending to take the bear. Her eyes popped open wide whenever my hand got near it. She’s sleeping with it tonight.

Kate gave me a “kiss” today as well. At least, it was a kiss like Hayley used to do as a baby. Basically a most, open-mouthed face-rush like she was some sort of Dementor. But it’s adorable when *she* does it.

After cussing them for the past nine months, I finally threw out our old baby monitors that we’d had since Hayley and got some new ones. It was always a crapshoot at night whether you’d turn the monitor in our room on and hear Kate, a rush of static, or weird static “pops” that would keep me awake. Last night was the pops, so I turned them off, and we had to keep our door open to listen for her. That finally got old. Hopefully these new ones will work better.

So Kate’s fever turned out to be the first sign of Roseola, which is a virus that causes fever for a few days followed by a rash. Sure enough, the day after her fever broke, she developed a rash. Hayley had the same thing when she was about Kate’s age, so I recognized it as soon as the rash appeared. It should clear up in a few days.

Kate “cruised” a little bit tonight. She’s been pulling up on pretty much everything and even climbing onto a few low-to-the-ground things, but tonight Wade was lying in the floor and she stood up, leaning against him. She started out near his hips and ended up at his head. So she only moved a little way, but it’s a start!

She also “waved” bye-bye tonight. I was waving and saying bye to Wade and Hayley as I was taking her up for bath and bed, and she opened and closed her little hand a few times. Her palm was facing her, so essentially she was waving at herself, but again, a start! It was cute anyway.

Kate’s portraits last week were an adventure. She barely stayed still long enough for the guy to take her picture. Each time I’d set her down, she would immediately crawl away. Eventually, we worked out a system–he would get the camera angle set up, I would hold her until he was ready, then I’d set her down and he would quickly try to get the shot. We got a few cute ones, even though we only did six poses. He asked if she would lie on her belly for a pose. I laughed.

Friday, Kate had her 9-month checkup with the pediatrician. We weren’t able to see her usual doctor, and the brusqueness of the one we saw didn’t warm him to me. She had a slight fever that day which he brushed off as nothing. I know I didn’t go to medical school, but I hold my child every single day–I know when she feels warmer than normal. I spent the weekend worrying over her temperature which continued to go up and down like a roller coaster between 99 and 102. Finally, this morning, I called the nurse line at the doctor’s office and she reassured me that Kate probably just has a virus since she doesn’t seem to have any other symptoms. She seemed better today, but I can tell she still isn’t quite herself.

Kate seems to want to pull up and stand more and more each day. She’s also learning the meaning of the word “No” as she tests her boundaries. She’s beginning to think it’s fun to throw food off her highchair tray but Mommy doesn’t like that. And today at my doctor’s office, each time I would hand her a toy frog, she would immediately drop it onto the floor. After about four times, I said, “Well, we’ll just put that away then.” I think it’s a bit of a shock to her when I tell her no or take a stern tone of voice with her because she’s used to being cooed at and spoken to sweetly all the time. About half the time when I “fuss” at her, she bursts into tears. Other times, she just looks at me like she wonders if I’m serious or not. Hayley will probably soon relish the fact that she isn’t the only one who gets told “No” and “Stop.” But Hayley was pretty good as a baby once she learned she couldn’t do something or couldn’t touch something. I remember her first Christmas she wanted to touch the tree but we kept telling her it was hot. She would walk over and stand next to it and say, “Hot.” We may be experiencing a bit of deja vu this Christmas when Kate sees the tree…

Last week, Wade was at a conference in Portland, Oregon, so Hayley, Kate, and I spent the week visiting family in Virginia. We stayed with Grandpa and Lele, Granddaddy and Grandma Estes, and Grandma Queen and Bill. Hayley also spent one night with Aunt Beth and cousins Ashley and Blake. We went to the pool, fishing, and to the zoo in Richmond. Hayley had a good time wherever she went but I think she especially enjoyed the zoo. She liked feeding the animals and watching the silly monkeys jumping and swinging in their cages. Kate seemed mildly interested in her surroundings but it was a hot day, so mostly I just kept her in the stroller and out of the sun as much as possible.

Little Kate is 9 months old today.

Kate continues to speed around the house on her hands and knees. She occasionally pulls herself into a standing position, but she doesn’t yet have a lot of balance so she hasn’t tried cruising or anything like that. Hayley was actually walking by the time she was this age. But I don’t see Kate walking for at least another few months. That’s fine with me–I’m busy enough trying to keep up with her now!

She has such a sweet little personality. She loves to laugh and she ADORES her big sister. Usually just the sight of Hayley will bring a smile to her face. Kate also loves to run away from me when I’m trying to change her diaper or get her ready for her bath or pretty much anything else that requires her to be still. She gives me a mischeivous look and zooms away. I say, “You’d better get back here!” and chase after her, and she laughs and moves faster. She spends more time than she used to playing by herself or exploring her surroundings but she still wants to be held often. She eats a lot and has yet to turn down any food I give her. She loves fruit–blueberries, strawberries, bananas, peaches, kiwi, cantaloupe, she’ll eat it all. She also likes chicken, jar vegetables, Cheerios, toast, crackers, and “Puffs,” which are kind of like cereal for babies but they are very light and melt in the baby’s mouth. Since she loves to eat so much, I have to keep a very close eye on her when she’s on the floor. She will put ANYTHING in her mouth. The biggest problem is the cat’s food and litter. Today she put a small piece of poop and later a piece of litter in her mouth before I could stop her. She didn’t eat either, but I immediately tried to rinse her mouth out. It’s so gross! I hope it doesn’t make her sick. I wish we could close the door on the laundry room, but then the cat couldn’t get in there either. Oh well. She’ll eventually stop putting everything in her mouth. It’s just a better incentive for me to keep my floors clean!

Kate definitely recognizes the camera now and usually smiles when prompted. We’ll see how that helps with her portraits tomorrow. I’ll have Hayley with me this time, though, and she can almost always get Kate to smile.