Dancing girl, 9 months old

This little girl is 9 months old! Where has all the time gone? Poppie stands up with the help of furniture and has even been spotted standing on her own for about 5 seconds. She is also practicing standing from a squatting position, without holding on to anything, which she has managed once or twice.

Remember this little almost-walker? Finn was just shy of 9 months when we shot that video and there is no doubt that Poppie is keeping up with her little brother's accelerated physical development. Which scares me to death, because I can hardly keep up with one of them, let alone two walkers. What ever am I going to do when they run in opposite directions?

In other 9-month-old news, Poppie is slowly giving up her bottles and is getting the majority of her calories from real food. Her favorites are curries, seaweed, any type of fish, berries and just about anything that has lots of flavor and that she can feed herself. Baby food is passe for this girl. It is a little challenging trying to make sure that we don't give her too much dairy or high-galactose foods (legumes, tomatoes and figs are all suprisingly high in galactose), especially since Finn could live on cheese, yogurt, spaghetti bolognese and lentils if he had his way.

Poppie is also going through a very vocal phase of neediness. If she feels ignored for too long (lately it seems 2 seconds is too long), she will scream and fake-cry until someone picks her up. Which is tough because our house is so tiny, no one can handle her screaming and she ultimately gets swooped into someone's arms. We are trying to teach her to be a little more independent, but it is slow going. The simplest thing is to strap her on my back and continue on our way until she either falls asleep or gets fed up with being carried.

Yesterday, Finn came with me on a shopping trip while Poppie stayed home. Finn was thrilled because I swooped in and 'kidnapped' him from the nanny and he felt super special and was a darling the whole time we were out and about. The mommy-and-me time was just what he needed and a chore that is usually frustrating for both me and the children (grocery shopping and running errands, in and out of the car), was suddenly easy and pleasant. I had a momentary epiphany about how much easier life is with older children. I thought that the baby phase was going to be my favorite, but I have to admit, I am really looking forward to both of the children being able to talk (communicate their needs) and walk (instead of carrying one and desperately trying to hold the hand of the other).

Poppie is equally as outgoing and engaging with the world as Finn. She can't hold still for a second and always wants to explore and touch and 'talk'. Poor thing is in that frustrating stage in life, where she knows where she wants to go and what she wants to do, but can't get herself there on her own. As I write this, it explains the needy, screaming to be picked up (and engaged with) behavior. Once she can satisfy her own curiousity without relying on us, I am sure this phase will disappear. And a new one will replace it, I am sure.