9 months

Carolina turns 9 months old today. In three more months, I'll have a birthday party for her. Oh, God. It's these kind of flickering thoughts that make me realize time is moving forward, and maybe, just maybe I shouldn't be in such a hurry for her to be older. To be walking. To be talking.  Most days I really do want to see all that and I lament that we aren't there fast enough.  I just feel like we're so housebound with the napping and it takes so little to throw off her routine. Not that I don't push the limits. I mean, we can't always stay home. But in general, it would be nice to have a late night out in the city with the girls or to leave the house around 10 a.m. for a change.  But that's not happening a lot these days because of this little person who needs lots of sleep and crawl time and time to just be.  So I'm glad when I sit and reflect for a minute and can see all the progress we've already made. In just the past few weeks, Carolina has started crawling and maneuvering herself from tummy to sitting up and back again with such grace.  She is also eating chunkier purees and has learned to pick up finger foods with aplomb. Maybe because I have less anxiety about all these changes, she seems so much more natural at them. It's like she's been doing this forever.  And of course now that she's crawling, she loves nothing more than to pull up to a standing position with our help and try to take a few steps.  She's eager for more. More movement. More new foods. And in a way, I think she's made me appreciate all these stages of development in a new way.  Because with each milestone, I feel not just the newness of it, but the lovely bittersweet last-ness. This will be the last time I have a baby learning to eat solids, and walk and talk, and yes, sleep through the night.  Life is always most meaningful when you know it's fleeting.  So in celebration of these nine glorious months of constant changes and growth, we are home today watching it rain and letting this little girl get two full naps under her belt. Because tomorrow the sun will be out and we'll both want to play.