Update

Once again, it has been awhile since I have updated our blog.  I actually just keep forgetting I have it.  I will try to get better at this!

Tomorrow is the first of October.  I can't believe this year has flown by and Afton will be 9 months old next week.  As I type this, she is sitting in our living room floor, tearing up a LL Bean Catalog and putting small pieces in her mouth.  I have one eye on her and one on the computer.  Letting her tear up the catalog is probably not the best thing to do but it is keeping her entertained.

For this update, I am going to write what I originally thought I would use this blog for.  Updating everyone on Afton's progress and telling what her "new" things are.  I really wish that I had been doing this from the beginning.  Not only for everyone else, but for me so I can have a journal of her life and her milestones.  I do take a lot of pictures, but somethings you just can't capture with a picture.

She is now able to pick up small objects with a pincher grasp.  That is why I am keeping one eye on her and the catalog because she can tear up paper into tiny pieces now.  We have been practicing the pincher grasp by eating Cheerios (which kinda scares me because she isn't the greatest chewer in the world, but I guess she needs to practice that too).  We tried Walmart brand and Gerber baby puff things that are supposed to dissolve once they are in their mouth.  She didn't like their taste too much although she did like to pick them up and launch them off her high chair tray.

She also has started in the last couple of weeks to sit with her legs crossed.  I am not sure what started this, but every time she sits on the floor or in her high chair she sits with her ankles crossed.  I think it is hilarious...maybe she will be a lady.

 Afton isn't 100% mobile either.  Just today she has been getting around on all fours and actually crawling.  She really isn't that motivated.  If she sees something that is out of her reach, she will try and if it takes too long to get to it, she just gives up.  I don't think that she is aware of how well she can scoot around though.  Most times, she does get where she wants to go.  If the realization hit her that she could get around, I think she would try a little harder to crawl.  I can't leave her alone anymore!

She has just learned to pull herself up to a stand.  She tries to pull up on everything-her toys, us, the ottoman, her pac n play, her crib, etc.  It won't be long until she is walking...

She can also put her pacifier in her mouth all by herself now.  When we point to an object and say "put this or that here" she will do that, if we ask for what she is holding she will give it to us and just in the last couple of days she has been putting little balls in the holes of her toy giraffe!  I bought that a while back and she hasn't been interested in it until this last week.  I am really excited that she is learning so many new things!

It is all really sad and exciting at the same time.  I am excited for her to grow and learn, but sad that it is going by so quickly.  I am so blessed that I get to stay home and spend so much time with her.  She is such a blessing to Matt and I!