Isla is 9 months old!!

Yoga pose while holding her toothbrush!

The message at 9 months seems to be "On the verge". Isla is just about to have a lot of new tricks up her sleeve.

Cutie pie. The one thing that is consistent every month and we feel confident will never change is that she is cuter than ever, and just as sweet as can be! All four of Isla's front teeth have popped through. Her big gummy smile with little white speckles always makes us giggle. And when she is sitting in her Excer-saucer playing she seems to be all legs!

Scooting.

One the Move. For some time now Isla has been scooting around on her belly. She just started pulling her knees up under her bottom, so maybe she will figure out crawling before she figures out how to walk. If we stand her up she will stay there as long as we let her. Sometimes she will put all of her weight onto one foot...we think she will walk before she crawls. She will also scoot around on her hiney. Everyday I set her down to play with toys as I get dinner ready and when I come back to get her she is four feet or so from where I left her. She figuring out the motor thing!

Babbling. Isla makes noises all day long. She has a really deep raspy voice that reminds us of Darth Vader, another soft sweet voice, and a really high pitched squeal, that is usually reserved for being super excited and usually coincides with seeing Ashby which we think will be her first word, and honestly we are encouraging it. She makes a 2 syllable sound that starts with an "Ash". She has also started making "Pa" and "Ba" sounds in the last month.

Waving to Papa at breakfast.

Social Butterfly. Besides chatting all day, Isla loves to wave. She waves unprovoked to Greg and I, to Ashby, to her bird mobile, to her stuffed animals, to her reflection, and to any and all strangers (but mostly when they are not looking.) When we came back from Miami last week Isla stood on my lap for the longest time just waving to everyone sitting behind us. Even when I held her down to take her bottle she was straining to wave at the lady across the aisle from us. It is the cutest thing ever and I love when people tell me how sweet she is! We have been encouraging her to blow kisses, but we aren't there yet.

Sideways in the cart.

Always paying attention. Isla is SO alert, nothing gets by her. She perks up when she hears Greg's footsteps in the house. Ashby too, of course. When I stop the car, whether it's in the garage as we are coming home or in the parking lot of the grocery store, she claps and giggles. And in the grocery store she kicks her legs around so that she is sideways in the cart so she can see where we are going. She often just sits there waving as people pop into view. For Christmas Isla got several DVD's and she enjoys them so much. She giggles and squeals, and waves to the TV, it is so cute. And she definitely has favorite parts. Isla also gets excited when I take her to Little Gym. She recognizes the building as we are walking in, and I think she recognizes some of the other kids and parents in the class too. She loves her time at Little Gym.

Jackpot...Blackberries!!

Life is good.

Waving to Greg in between bites.

Growing appetite. Isla is eating just about everything that we are. She hasn't refused anything...yet, but she definitely has her favorites - blueberries, blackberries, cherries, peaches, and clementines have been a huge hit. She has had green beans, asparagus, carrots, brussel sprouts, corn, broccoli...you name it really. She has also figured out that Ashby will eagerly lick her dirty little hands clean if she lets her. The times that this has happened Isla has just squealed in delight. And poor neglected Ashby has finally found a pay off for having Isla around!

We are so thankful to have such a sweet, happy and healthy little 9 monther!