Belly Laughs

Jillian has this awesome fake sounding laugh that explodes from her occasionally. A couple nights ago she was on a roll. I love when she sees us laughing and tries to keep us going.

Waking Up

Jillian will often wake up gently, just talking softly. It's so cute to go in and get her when she is all smiles after a nap or when she wakes up in the morning. I thought I would share the experience with you.

Can I Get A Push?

A couple weekends ago Jason and I went out on a wild goose chase for a park with some swings. We found several without swings. Kim told me how to get to Hilltop Park which is only a couple minutes away and I tried to find it on my lunch hour today. Jillian has already been there with Grandma Pam and Aunt Abbi but she had trouble telling me how to get there. Thankfully Penasquitos does a good job with signage.

This is a great park with a gorgeous view. Unfortunately, Jillian only tolerated the swings for a few minutes. She kept pointing at the different pieces of playground equipment and there were a few kids around that she was enthralled with. I swear, she was so mesmerized by them I wouldn't have been surprised if she took her first steps and then started running after them.

Jillian Lewko: So You Think You Can Dance?

Jillian can shake her groove thang! It is really cute and we can't wait for her to do it some more. I hope she has her daddy's rhythm and not her Mama's. Her cousin Ethan loves to dance and is so dang adorable doing it. I can't wait to get a Canfield-Lewko Dance Party going.

The Office Season 5

It came out today. I went on my lunch hour to buy it. Yay, yay, yay! It came with a magnet, mouse pad, t-shirt, stress ball and door hanger. Sooooo awesome. I am an Office geek and I love it!

Repurposing Computer Accessories

We were cleaning out our coffee table and came across Jason's old computer keyboard. Jillian LOVES to strike the keys on my keyboard and on all the laptops but several times she has gotten some key stuck and then I can't select anything or everything comes up highlighted. So we simply cut the cord off of this keyboard and voila, a great baby toy!

Grandpa

Jillian loves her grandpa. Last weekend we went swimming over there for a bit and she kept looking over and smiling at her grandpa, even reaching her arms out towards him once he was across the pool.

Jillian's 9 Month Stats

Jillian had her 9 month check up yesterday. Yay for no immunization shots this time. She has grown some. Here are her stats:

Height: 28.5" 75th percentile
Weight: 18lbs. 10.4oz 25th-50th percentile
Head circumference: 17.25" 25th-50th percentile

And here is what she has been doing lately:

• Pulling up to standing (description and photos below)
• Crawling
• Sitting
• Kneeling
• Talking a bunch (still no words but she babbles Mama and Dada a lot, just not while looking at us.)
• Does a mean Darth Vader impression
• Drives us crazy by grinding her teeth
• Can clap and wave but not really on command. It's hit or miss if you ask her to do it.
• Shakes her head "no" (but not to answer a question. I think she likes the motion.)
• Points towards people or objects (she just started this. Most of the time it seems like she is asking the Mom-taxi or the Dad-taxi to take her over to something)
• Wiggles all over the place
• Climbs all over us
• Loves to eat puffs. She gets crazy hands when they come out.
  

Jillian has been so close now... and it was really only inevitable. This past week and especially this weekend she has been pulling to standing. Ahhhhhhh! {That's me screaming.} It's really cute but terrible to watch at the same time. She still has so little leg strength and balance that she gets tired or off balance and topples over. The worst time I've seen so far was when she was in her crib. She fell and smacked her head on the back of the crib. She was fine. I freaked. I couldn't even watch tonight as we put her down. We borrowed some traditional bumpers from Ron and Sarah to see if this would soften some blows. I glanced over as she smacked her head again. Argh. I am not a fan of this stage!