Nueve

I think nine-months is my new favorite age.  Philippa is so stink'n cute!  More personality, more independence, more in LOVE!  One of my most favorite things about Pippa is that she likes to be held and doesn't mind being held close.  As in, I can hold her inward and she's happy as a clam.  Ro always wanted to face out...and usually wanted to not be held in general.  Or so I remember.

Another one of my favorite things about Pippa is that she likes me!  ME!  Anytime I enter the room she gets a giant smile on her face.  And if we're in the same room, but not close to each other, Pippa will flirt with me.  Smile when she catches my eye.  Laugh at me.  It makes my heart explode!  Again, Ro was not like this.  From Day One, Ro was in love with Wyatt.  And has been to this day.  Finally, I get a favorite!

A third thing I love about Pippa is that she LOVES to eat!  I think I've mentioned this before but it's so novel that I still love this attribute.   It is indescribable how refreshing it is to sit to eat and Pippa actually eats the food I put in front of her.  All of the food.  And usually wants some more.  It is me who often has to cut her off.  We have some friends who have a little boy Ro's age.  They used to tell us about what a good eater he was and I just couldn't imagine what they were describing.  But here we are, feeding our own little good eater!  I love it!

Lest you think Pippa fares better than Ro in all my comparisons, tis not true.  And, I'm not supposed to compare my children anyway.  (Though very hard to do since I'm still new at this mom business and still find myself in uncharted territory.  My initial reaction is to call on what I have already experienced.)  Pippa is almost always contented as a frog (as Sandra Boynton's Feelings book says).  However, she has started expressing her opinion more when she doesn't like something.  Lately, if she has spent too much time in her car seat, she will protest upon our attempts to buckle her in.  A full blown protest.  Arched back. Head bent all the way back.  Crying.  Grunting.  I cannot remember Ro doing this ever until he was 18-months old.  And even then, it was one or two times.  Pippa is half that age!  We might be in trouble...

I call Pippa a non-traditional sitter.  Rarely does she sit upright or straight in a chair.  (Unless she's totally strapped in like her car seat.)  Usually she'll sit at an angle with one leg fully over the edge and the other bent on top of the seat.  She does this even while eating in her high chair.  She also likes to slouch in her chair and touch her toes to the edge of her food tray.  She likes to slouch in the stroller too...while sitting at an angle.  It's so amusing to me that she has preferences about sitting at such a young age.

We call Pippa our little "dare devil."  She always crawls to the edge of whatever/wherever we've set her down.  Wyatt will play "catch" with her and she'll fall into his arms.  That's probably why she still crawls to the edge, as opposed to not, she's looking to play the game.  She also loves going fast (on slides, in the stroller, on the merry-go-round).  And she likes animals.  Which is not really dare-devil'ish.  I'm just thinking about Ro, who is quite timid around dogs.  But I am remembering Ro liking dogs when he was little, so I think this must be a learned thing.  We'll see if Pippa's opinion on the subject changes or not.

Pippa is officially sleeping through the night!  Hallelujah!  Just when I was beginning to think she never would, she surprised me with this little treat.  And boy, is it a treat!  It really wasn't bad before, she'd just wake once in the night.  But still, who likes interrupted sleep?  Which, to be honest, I still "get" since Ro is still migrating to our room around 3am every morning.  At least we've got one kid sleeping in their own bed.  Our trip to Colorado was the "dark hour" before the day.  So to speak.  Since Pippa was in an unfamiliar setting...and we were sharing the same room...I was getting-up to feed her multiple times in the night.  She was definitely digressing from her previous once-per-night status.  And I was starting to go crazy and wallow in self-pity.  But the night she returned to her own bed, she didn't wake up in the night!  And hasn't since...except for our recent trip to Oregon.  But I won't count that because, again, unfamiliar surroundings.

The above picture was taken by Ro.  Not perfect but I love it.  A nice candid picture of our everyday life in the morning at home.

We still love plane spotting!  Found a playground near the north runways so we can watch the planes land.  Here's a picture of "our" plane: Emirates 777.  I'm going to miss my planes when we move.

Pippa's not quite crawling yet.  But she's great at army crawling and doesn't let our hard floors slow her down.  If she wants to be where we are, she's happy to get herself there!

Pippa is starting to "catch-up" or should I say "catch-down" to her peers in the growth department.  Her growth curve is starting to plateau.  19lbs 7oz for weight (75%),  28-inches for height (74%).  And 48.3 cm head circumference (99%).  My kids have big heads to hold their big, smart brains.

We ventured east to Colorado the first half of September.  There's a new temple in Fort Collins so the kids and I made a visit.  It is so pretty!  I got to attend the open house twice: once with my dearest childhood friend, JoVonne, along with my dad's wife, Maria.  And a second time with my family.  

I was super nervous about taking my friend and stepmom.  I love the temple and it's scary to share something I hold special with others...in fear that they might not share my same feelings.  (Though, they're hardly the type of people to feel that way, and if they did, say so out loud to my face.)  Both were really impressed with the temple and could feel the special spirit that resides there.  It was a really positive experience!  

Pancakes with Ma' G, of course.  It's always nice to flock together with our birds of a feather!

And it was just as fun to take my kiddos the second time.  This was actually Ro's second temple open house.  His first was in Payson, Utah when he was 20-months old.  Ro really liked it but I think he liked being with my family more.  Pippa seemed to enjoy the experience too.      

I hope, hope, hope my kids are best buds the way their older cousins are!  Sibling love.

While in Colorado my mom planned a special party for the kids.  It was in honor of Ro's birthday...but Pippa benefited from the event too.  She planned a treasure hunt, complete with pirate costumes and a treasure map!  Ro wasn't super fond of the dress-up part.  He kept saying, "I want to not wear this."  But he was a good sport and kept it on until the hunt was over.  Pippa didn't seem to mind too much.  Both were happy about all the new loot they received.

Two more pictures taken by Ro.  Again, not the best quality but really great at capturing the day-to-day ins and outs.  

I've said this once before and I'll say it again.  One of the perks of being the youngest and having the youngest cousins is that everybody LOVES being with my kids!  Everyone is grown and big, so it's fun to be around little people.  

Grandpa Ross and Maria treated us to lunch - Mexican food, of course!  They're favorite and ours too.  And it was even more fun since we walked there and the kids got to ride in the wagon.  

My mom's little town has it's very own donut shop, Mr. Donut!  I'm in love with the name!  Too bad Wyatt isn't Mr. Donut...then I'd be Mrs. Donut.  Apparently it's been around for a couple of years.  I can't believe my mom missed this!  She loves donuts.  Or so I thought.  I'm beginning to question her true loyalty.  We made a trip to test the circular treats and they were delish.  We'll definitely be returning on our next visit.

Pa Lou took Ro to the movies again this visit.  And they went to breakfast at the local buffet beforehand.  And to top it off, Pa Lou took his car to the car wash (no matter that it wasn't even dirty).  Ro was in hog heaven!!!  I can see this becoming a tradition for all future visits.  The man date was a treat for me too since it allowed me to sleep, sleep, sleep at home.  I was exhausted!  

Ro is still warming up to Brice, Judy, Cheyenne and Cameron's dog, Pocket.  Judy showed Ro how to give Pocket treats after she does a trick.  Ro loved running around the backyard with Judy, Pocket chasing after them.  

Here's a picture of our house from the plane.  Find the water tower...then the bright blue house to the right of the water tower.  We're two houses down (to the right) of the blue house.  It sure seems like the passengers of planes can see us/our house a lot easier when we're on the back deck waving at them.  In reality, it's just a little dot.

While in Colorado, Wyatt headed to Las Vegas for a weekend with two of his buds.  There was fun to be had...PG rated fun.  Thank goodness!  And it was a bit of a relief to learn that Wyatt doesn't really care for gambling.  He said his friends would head down to the casino, just as he was crawling into bed for the night.  Phew.  I think the highlight of the trip was riding in a NASCAR car at 180mph.  Wyatt said it was a fun trip.  (Side note from me, How is Las Vegas still in existence?!!!  After everything Wyatt told me about it...I'm perplexed why the ground hasn't opened and swallowed it whole.  No question on why it's called "sin city.")

When we returned from Colorado, Wyatt's parents - Grandy and Goombaw - and sister, Tanya paid us a quick visit.  They were on their way home from the San Juan Islands.  We were met with "panda food" as Ro calls it (Panda Express).  And an impostor!!!  Grandy planted a killer whale they bought for Ro on the shelf of giant pandas in his room.  They were so smug thinking it'd be days...possibly weeks before Ro would find it.  Wrong!  Ro spotted it that night.  Minutes after we sat down on his bed to read books.  Ro looked up and said, "what's that?"  I was floored!  It was pretty camouflaged, so that means one thing: Ro inherited his impressive observance skills from Wyatt.  

And that's Pippa's ninth-month in life.  And we're only a week away from Pippa's ten-month mark.  Not too shabby!  I think this is my first post this year that I posted before the next month's photo shoot.  Maybe it'll be even sooner next month?