Sofi now

It's amazing how different the growth and development of one child is from an older sibling's. It's not that long ago that we went through some of these changes and milestones with Nico, and yet they have been so different with Sofi. I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering how different they are from each other.

I know it has a lot to do with personality, but I think it also stems from the fact that she's a second child - constantly motivated by an older brother that gets to run around and do things, and she wants to participate and get to do all those things too!

Samurai ponytail

She is a talker. While Nico has always been pretty content sitting back and observing things, Sofi wants to participate and tell you what she thinks. She "talks" in her crib, in the car, while she plays, in the bath, while she eats... all the time! It's a constant chatter, with different intonations, and I can't wait for her first words so I can hear what she has to say. For now, there's a lot of "mamamama" and "dadadadada."

Her curiosity for Lola seems to come and go, but when she's interested she really wants to be able to touch her -- especially her soft ears. Lola doesn't seem to mind.

Cuddling with Lola

She's a pretty good sleeper for the the most part, but she's not the easiest baby to put down. Of course my only point of comparison is Nico, who was super easy, having learned to put himself to sleep from a very young age. Sofi is all over the place - sometimes she wants to be swaddled, other times she gets pissed if you swaddle her; sometimes she wants to nurse before you put her down, other times she wants to fall completely asleep in your arms before you put her in the crib; sometimes she wants her mobile turned on, other times the mobile is the worst thing in the world. It's hard to keep up with her.

Fortunately, once she goes down, she sleeps pretty well at night. She'll sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, but after a quick diaper change and a quick nursing session, she falls right back asleep and transfers to the crib easily (no fuss then!). Sometimes when she wakes up later at night/close to our wake up time, she gets to stay in bed and cuddle with us -- something that I absolutely love, even if I don't get to rest as well.

Sleeping with daddy

She is fearless - I think when she grows up she'll be my roller coaster riding buddy. She loves to the bounced around, thrown up in the air, dipped backwards... you name it. And she loves the swings!

Like I said, having an older brother makes her want to move - and so she started crawling around 7 months. The first couple of weeks were kinda slow and there was a lot of flopping around, but now she is very secure in her movements. And she is fast - especially if she's trying to race me to the dog water bowl.

Crawling monster

Two weeks ago we had to lower her crib when I came downstairs to find this happy greeter.

I'm awake!

She is now pulling up on EVERYTHING and loves the fact that she can get to things and play standing up just like brother.

Standing!

And, not surprisingly, she is cruising all over. It really amazes me. I expected the cruising on coffee tables & couches -- it's what Nico did; but she pulls up on walls and just goes, kinda holding on the wall. She is so determined - if she wants to get to something she'll figure out a way to get to it. And she is so eager to walk, getting braver and braver as she lets go of something (like a table) and reaches for something else (like the wall!).

and cruising

Still no teeth, but that doesn't stop her from wanting to eat stuff with texture. She is not at all impressed with any kind of puree - she tolerates yogurt and applesauce, but loves to feed herself any little chunks of food from mama's plate. So without really planning it, we're doing more of a baby led weaning thing with her, which I have to admit is kinda nice cause it means that she feeds herself while I get other stuff done (even if it's messier).

Hard to believe that she's almost 9 months old!