Alia is 9 Months old

Alia is 9 months old. While Alia has always been quite clear about her likes and dislikes, her preferences and such, she has become much more clear about things lately. Alia has learned that she can tell us "no" by shaking her head. When she's done eating, she closes her mouth tightly and shakes her head. Alia also vigorously shakes her head to avoid falling asleep...I'm not sure if she is saying no, no, no! I don't want to sleep, or if the motion is just her last ditch effort to keep her eyes open. Regardless, there is no greater "tell" than Alia's rapid back and forth movement!

This month, Alia perfected clapping. In prior months, one fist was closed while the other open hand clapped it rock-paper-scissors style. And before, clapping was only something that Alia imitated. Now Alia's clapping is expressive...it means "I'm happy!" For example, after a rough night of putting Alia to bed, Ajay brought a very upset and crying baby to the living room. Immediately the crying stopped and the clapping began, as if to say, "see guys? I just want to be in here with you!"

This month Alia attended her cousin Ciela's first birthday party. Alia has made a huge move forward socially. While she still prefers to be admired from afar, and prefers that strangers refrain from touching her, she is very much interested in interacting with new people now. And boys? Let's just say Daddy is going to be very busy one of these days....Alia already flirts relentlessly with grown men!

This month we've had days warm enough to put Alia in the pool. The first time, Alia was fine but apprehensive. She held on to her little bath time turtle the whole time and chewed on him for security. The next time? A totally different experience. Our little water baby wants to be thrown up into the air and will stay in the water indefinitely. Since this last joyful experience in the pool and Alia's pending mobility, we decided it was time to install the pool-safe fence between the doors to the house and the pool. Now we have a backyard that says, "we were stylish...now we're safe". 

This month Alia has shown a real interest in books. In the past, her interest was sporadic at best, and usually ended with her biting the book and mauling the pages. Now she really listens to the words and she looks at every picture with interest.

Alia has survived her first cold. It's been about a week now, and she is almost done with it. She found the whole experience of nose suctioning and wiping to be humiliating. In fact, our clever girl realized that the changing table was the spot where the bulb syringe would attack her little nose, and now every time I try to change her diaper, she immediately flips over onto her tummy and tries like mad to escape. While it's cute, it has become quite a challenge.

All in all this month has been a wonderful month to watch Alia grow and develop into a very sweet and funny little character. Her happy disposition and sparkling eyes continue to draw complete strangers to her in public. And me being the biased Mom...can I blame them?