This is Violet's first "Halloween" outfit, althought we're not really doing anything to celebrate it. No trick or treating, nothing...its just too cold, and she's too young to do anything. Dave and I could use the excuse though to get a bunch of free candy! It says "The littlest pumpkins have the biggest grins!"
Dave got Violet to smile for this picture by holding up a stuffed animal behind Maria with the camera, making it act like it was jumping around and making noises. She just thinks that is so silly and funny!I remember my mom doing the same thing with a Raggedy Andy doll. We were a bit older though, but one of my most fun memories is riding in the car and giggling out of control at my mom making us laugh with these dolls.
Violet is growing in strength and agility every day. She can speed-crawl across the room and stand up next to anything, and "cruise" along the futon or a wall, meaning she can walk along it but holding on at the same time. She is 30 1/2 in. long and 21.5 lbs.
The time change really threw things off Saturday night. She got off her schedule on Sunday (Sunday mornings are never what they should be!) and going out to eat with my parents was fun, but a bad idea because Violet was so cranky and loud. Dave eventually walked around and got her to go to sleep. Dave's mom, Martha was visiting for the weekend to see us and also sample Montage's winter seasonal pasta dish. She's taking more of an interest in food too. Yesterday she had a bowl of baby cereal, an entire container of baby sweet potatoes and some cut up pieces of toast. She's still nursing a lot. I'm trying to get out of the habit of nursing her to sleep for her naps and going to bed, especially since she's got 2 teeth, and its not healthy for her teeth to have milk sitting in her mouth when she goes to sleep because it can cause decay. So after her last feeding of the night, I take her little finger toothbrush (which she loves to play with her index finger) and brush off her two teeth before going to bed. She seems to go down easier with Dave than with me...because she's old enough to know that I can feed her and Dave can't. I guess that's a good excuse to have him put her down at nighttime! :) 
Violet took her first steps behind the little walker toy we got her. I set her infront of it after not seeing it for awhile, and she took 6 steps. Yay! I posted a pic of Dave helping her.
Also I must share a funny story. I was holding her today and she noticed my earring. I am wearing the diamond studs that my parents got me for UNI gradution. She points to the little diamond and wiggles it back and forth. Then she takes her hand, pushes my cheek and face over so she can see the other ear, and proceeds to play and poke the other earring. I thought the fact that she was pushing my face over to see the other earring was so hilarious. What a goof Violet is!
I've always wanted to keep a journal of the first year of motherhood...but I'm 9 months late. Right now Violet is next to me on the floor throwing around a cardboard box that one of those cheap electronic keyboards came in. She likes to listen to the music and rock back and forth...hit the keys and make noises. Tomorrow Violet will be 9 months old .... and that time span is exactly how long I was pregnant with her. Well, not exactly...she was 2 weeks late so I guess thats wrong. She's been crawling for 2 months now and is pulling up to stand on everything. The chair, my leg, the wall, the futon, anything. She'll crawl along the floor but replace her knees with her feet and it looks so goofy. I'll be she'll be walking before Thanksgiving.
She has recently been repeating things after us. A few weeks ago we could babble first "ba ba ba" and she would babble the same thing back. We would make the noise "mmm mmm mmmmmm" and she would repeat it back. Now she can say "mamamamama" but I don't know if she knows that's me!! Also, she likes to growl. I don't know where it came from...I guess its normal...but she'll just be crawling around and be growling really low. Its hilarious. I tied a rubber band (my version of childproofing a low cabinet door) around the built-in china cabinet, and she is constantly pulling up to stand next to it and strum the rubber band with her little fingers. I goes doink and plink and she likes the noises. We also got her one of those walking toys, where she could stand up behind it and push as it rolls along. Once she gets the hang of it (she hasn't done it yet)...it can turn into a little thing to sit on and propel with her legs. Its cute! She likes it a lot so far...but all she's done with it is pull and spin the toys and knock it over to check out every possible angle of it.
About a week ago she developed the ability to grasp a little cheerio between her thumb and first finger and get it to her mouth. She loves to sit in her chair hooked to the kitchen counter with a pile of cheerios in front of her and eat them 1 by 1. Now all her pee smells like is cheerios! LOL
She's still nursing almost 100%. I started her on the grain cereal for babies and some mushy baby food. She really liked the cereal for the first month (around 6 months) but started refusing it. She liked sweet potatoes and squash, and has has a few bites of the green beans, but I can't get her to eat more than 8 or 9 good bites. Some days I don't even deal with food, and just nurse her because she loves it and its very easy for me! Her two little bottom teeth are so cute....but are so darn sharp if she bites down. She doesn't really bite when she nurses...but sometimes when she's really hungry and latches onto me she clamps down pretty hard.
Her absolute favorite place to be is in the guest bedroom/office where Dave works. He usually plays fun music while he's working and not on the phone, so she excitedly crawls over to the door and pounds her hand on it. If it ever opens, she's there in a split second. She likes that room a lot! Maybe because there is a big picture of me and Violet on Dave's computer screen. She likes to stare at pictures of herself.
The place on the wall where the phone plugs into it is a "no-no" area. If she ever touches the plug she gets told "no" and a slap on the hand. We've been working on this for awhile. She knows the word and if she goes up to it and touches it, and we say "no"...she starts crying anticipating the snip on the hand. I guess these things take awhile to sink in.
Dave got Violet to smile for this picture by holding up a stuffed animal behind Maria with the camera, making it act like it was jumping around and making noises. She just thinks that is so silly and funny!I remember my mom doing the same thing with a Raggedy Andy doll. We were a bit older though, but one of my most fun memories is riding in the car and giggling out of control at my mom making us laugh with these dolls.
Violet is growing in strength and agility every day. She can speed-crawl across the room and stand up next to anything, and "cruise" along the futon or a wall, meaning she can walk along it but holding on at the same time. She is 30 1/2 in. long and 21.5 lbs.
The time change really threw things off Saturday night. She got off her schedule on Sunday (Sunday mornings are never what they should be!) and going out to eat with my parents was fun, but a bad idea because Violet was so cranky and loud. Dave eventually walked around and got her to go to sleep. Dave's mom, Martha was visiting for the weekend to see us and also sample Montage's winter seasonal pasta dish. She's taking more of an interest in food too. Yesterday she had a bowl of baby cereal, an entire container of baby sweet potatoes and some cut up pieces of toast. She's still nursing a lot. I'm trying to get out of the habit of nursing her to sleep for her naps and going to bed, especially since she's got 2 teeth, and its not healthy for her teeth to have milk sitting in her mouth when she goes to sleep because it can cause decay. So after her last feeding of the night, I take her little finger toothbrush (which she loves to play with her index finger) and brush off her two teeth before going to bed. She seems to go down easier with Dave than with me...because she's old enough to know that I can feed her and Dave can't. I guess that's a good excuse to have him put her down at nighttime! :) 
