3.20.2014

Dear Evangeline (9 months)

Dearest Evangeline,

Happy nine months, dear!  What a month of expression this has been for you!  Your sparkling personality has come out more and more every day, and we greatly delight in seeing the unique person God has created you to be.

This month has brought wonderful, Spring weather to Vienna, and that means lots of fun outdoors!  You've gone down a slide, played on the see-saw with your brother, played in the sandbox, and spent many hours watching outdoor activity.  We've taken walks together and brought you along on many outings, and you rarely complain.  We even had a three-day conference at Puchberg am Schneeberg, and you handled the train travel and hotel room without any issues.  We were amazed!

You've seemed to enjoy trying more "grown-up" food.  Baked and cheesy mashed potato, cottage cheese, lentil soup, cheddar and Gouda cheeses, carrot soup, chicken, beef stew...plus venturing more into finger foods and self-feeding.  (What a mess!)  But I think your absolute favorite part about finger foods is sitting at the table and eating dinner with us.  You are so distracted by smiling at and expressing your joy to each one of us that it seems you barely eat anything.  Our dinners are full of much laughter with you at the table.

You are measuring at 70-71cm in length (about 27.75 inches, 60th percentile) and weighing in the same as last month at 8.6kg (19 lbs, 55th percentile).  It feels so strange to already be dressing you in one-year clothes; you are growing up too quickly! :)  You are finally content on your tummy for long periods of time and have discovered that you can scoot really well on your tummy (mostly just backwards) and get to almost anything.  You've scooted forward a bit and it has almost looked like crawling. But so far, it hasn't stuck like the scooting backwards.  You have begun using toys as tools to reach other objects, and you've recently taken an interest in exploring books on your own with your eyes and hands instead of only your mouth.  You remain a great, long night sleeper, with the occasional interruption now and then (usually your brother), and you're still stubbornly sticking to three daytime naps, though the final nap keeps shrinking.

You love playing Peek-a-boo, have finally added "Mama" to your preferred and constant babbling of "Dada," and have shown a little interest in attempting some of the baby sign language we're teaching you.  You love to make a funny almost-growling-sound from the back of your throat, and it makes us laugh every time.  Your babbles are beginning to sound more like words each day.  You give out lots of smiles and giggles and love to offer Dad and Mom your open-mouth, slobbery kisses.  You laugh with a sweet sparkle in your eyes, and you are a great delight to the three of us!

We love you, dear Eva-doll!  Happy nine-month birthday!

Lovingly,
your daddy and mommy


Evangeline Elif - 9 month old
 (At this age, getting one good picture of Nathanael seemed almost impossible, due to his activity level.  Every single picture I took of this girl today turned out marvelously.  What a different child!)



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