9 months!

Believe it or not, but Alexis is already nine months old! I took her to the self-weigh clinic just to see how she's growing, and our baby girl now weighs in at 7.7 kg (17 lbs) and is 69.5 cm (27 in) tall.  Here are some fun things about Alexis at nine months:

Alexis loves to eat cheerios!  When I first tried to give them to her, she would always choke, so I ended up biting them in half first.  She's gotten a lot of practice and can now successfully feed herself whole cheerios.  She loves them so much that she will cry if you take any away from her that are still on her tray, even if she's already stopped eating them!  This picture is of the first time that Alexis used her big-girl highchair.

I bought an exersaucer on E-bay and it has been a life-saver!  Alexis loves to sit in it and now that she's crawling, it's nice to have around when I don't want her exploring the floor and getting into trouble.  She's also discovered that she can use it to practice pulling herself up.

Alexis loves to read books, especially with Daddy.  Her favourite book is Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox.  Alexis has absolutely loved this book since she was three weeks old.  Even at that age she would respond to the bright pictures.  You can see in the photos how captivated she is.

Soon after learning to crawl, Alexis started trying to pull herself up to stand.  She can't pull herself all the way up yet, but she can successfully and easily pull herself up onto her knees.  She has even learned how to lower herself back down (I think she got the idea after hitting her head a few times).  She loves to pull herself up to the edge of the coffee table and chew on the corners.

Alexis also loves to clap.  She loves it so much that she will stop crawling or put a toy down to clap.  She also claps in the middle of the night.  It's really cute, except when she won't go back to sleep afterwards.  (It sounds like this video was taken in the middle of a downpour, but it's actually John taking a shower.  I didn't think about the sound until I was already filming.)

Alexis is learning so many new skills, we can't wait to see what she can do in the next few months!