Puppy!

Annabelle has a new nickname. Since she has started crawling, she's been chasing after us with this little puppy-dog expression that seems to say, "What are we doin' guys? What's going on? Look at me, I can come too!" And she just seems puppy like--she's always at our feet, she's great at finding that dropped Joe's O that I missed, she plays fetch, she's great at downward dog, and she likes to try to eat papers or tissues Mabes leaves lying around.* And "Puppy" just seems to fit her.

Yesterday, Dave commented that her cuteness has multiplied exponentially in the last couple of weeks. I've heard more than one guy remark that for the first nine months, the baby belongs to the mom, but then when they start being more fun, it's dad's turn. I miss my cuddly newborn that would sleep on my chest for hours, but hearing her squeal as she chases Dave and crawls through his legs and claps is pretty fun.

Two weeks ago, she cut her first tooth. I was enjoying her gummy smile, but I guess it's about time. Her second one popped through last week and I think another one is coming soon. She's also started waving hello and goodbye. I figured she didn't really get the concept of good-bye, and was just responding to our promptings like a trained monkey. (Nothing wrong with that, I've always wanted a trained monkey.) But she surprised us the other night as she started crawling out of the family room, stopped at the doorway, turned back to us, waved, and then crawled down the hall.

(Awkward close-up, but you can see her teeth.)

I'm really loving this age. She is hilarious and curious and discovering everything around her. She likes to give hugs and I guess what she considers kisses, but is really just her gnawing on my cheek. It's great. She's still very easy-going and happy, though we have discovered that her dislikes include the Chick-Fil-A cow and Dave's new office chair. And while the curiosity is usually cute, I now dread diaper changes. She will.not.lie.down. She has ridiculous core strength and basically does sit ups the whole time. What should take about 45 seconds ends up taking 10 minutes and ends with me wishing I had 5 arms and, in today's case, a last-minute bath for Annabelle before rushing Mabes off to school.

Oh, and she had her 9 month appointment last week. She's doing great, but to my shock, she's dropped from the 90th percentile for height and 60th for weight to 70th percentile for height and 27th for weight. 27?!?! Mabes was off the charts. Annabelle is 17 pounds, 13.5 ounces, whereas Mabes weighed a full 6 pounds more at this age. The doctor assured me that she is perfectly healthy and even has chubby cheeks and thighs, so she's not worried. I think her doctor is tired of repeating "all babies are different"--you'd think I'd get it by now.

For comparison, Mabes at 9 months.

*I don't know if all puppies do that, but my parents' dog Louie has a penchant for tissues, particularly used ones. Thankfully, Mabes only leaves clean ones lying around.