After your last crushing defeat it seems you fancied your chances again 🙂 I won by a clear margin but who really was the winner here? You seemed to love every minute of it! I can’t wait until you watch these in the future and plan your revenge 😀 Go for Mummy, she’s an easier target and more susceptible to tickling 🙂

Well, it wasn’t exactly the sea but there was a beach 🙂 Today all three of us went to Papa’s Beach House! We like this place as there’s plenty of scenery, places to walk, a nice playground and most importantly, somewhere to eat, yummy!

We enjoyed a quick coffee and dessert before heading back out to the park for one last swing. We’re looking into having grass put down in the back garden so in the near future, you’ll have a swing and slide at home 😀

With the activity cube I found a way to put the large ring inside without going the ‘normal’ route 🙂 You were determined to get it out, I give you that! Don’t worry though, as soon as the video ended I took it out through the side and gave it you. I just loved the confused look on your face as you realized it wouldn’t come out.

There’s no denying it, you’re getting bigger! We knew this was inevitable but we didn’t realize how quick it would happen. The bed you’re in at the moment came in two sizes and we chose the smaller of the two… now we’re kind of regretting that decision 🙂 You’re finding it difficult to roll over to each side and stretch while trying to sleep.

As you can see you’re now taking up all the bed! When you’re older and you want to sleep in our bed… I think you’re going to be kicking me out! I wish I had an earlier picture for direct comparison but unfortunately it seems I don’t 🙁 Since birth you’ve grown by 22 cm and put on around 5 kg!

You got yet another new toy! Mummy saw this while out shopping today and she couldn’t say no 🙂

Maths time
So if we say 10 toys at an average ‘becoming bored time’ of 5 minutes per toy… that’s at least 50 minutes of play time guaranteed! Now we just need to work out your average ‘memory retention’ per toy to calculate how many more toys we need per rotation. Then taking into account your average ‘I never want to play with this toy again’…. OK… this is getting complicated… let’s just say you’re worth a 1000 toys!!! 😀

You learned very fast, even trying to put your activity cube block on top as well 🙂 Your one weak point is your feet, you kept kicking the tower over! I think it was a combination of a) your desire to kick & smash, and b) getting too excited… the energy has to go somewhere 🙂

We had a week of blistering sun in which I complained… and your mother can testify to this, I complained a lot. Now when we have something special to do with you, it rains… and rains… 🙁 So we’ll just have to wait until the weather clears up, however here is a little sneak peak as to what’s in store for you.

Here we go! It seems you’ve decided how to express your frustration or when you don’t like or want something 😀 We noticed it a few times ourselves and even the Creche mentioned it in one of your ‘dagboeken’. Due to your limited ability to move around the only thing you can really do from the sitting position is to collapse forward and cry. It’s actually quite ‘funny’ to watch, you’ll understand one day when you have children 🙂

It was also incredibly funny due to the fact that, even though you were protesting, your right hand was reaching out to play with your ‘activity cube’. You didn’t want to back down from your protest but at the same time, you still wanted to play 🙂

You have so much energy in your legs… Mummy and I are getting slightly worried as to what’s going to happen when you’re able to walk. Specifically when we’re in the middle of a department store and you don’t get what you want… those feet are going to stomp!!! 🙁

I have a plan and it’s going to make us all rich! It’s my next ‘get rich quick scheme’. All you have to do is find the lady / queen… or in this case… the raisin 😀 It’s quite simple really, all we have to do is find a hustler and beat him at his own game. You have to be ‘eagle eyed’ and out of three cards, find where he put the queen! Simple toch?! 🙂

I thought I’d start you off easy, under which hand is the raisin? If you find it… you get to eat it 🙂 I don’t think you need any more encouragement than that.

I like at the end you had to double check whether there was a raisin under the other hand 😀 I like your thinking little one!

I don’t know what it is but every time we eat together I tend to find something simple to keep you occupied, this morning was no different. You’re always reaching for the ‘tea towel’ next to your table, so today I thought I would give it to you 😀 It wasn’t really what you expected however you seemed to enjoy yourself. You have many years ahead of you to get your own back on me 😀 I’m already planning how you can help me scare Mummy 🙂

Similar to how we play ‘peek-a-boo’, when I place the towel on your head you’re actually waiting for me to take it off and laugh with you… at one point I wanted to see how long you would sit there for… the results where quite funny 😀

As you know I take a picture of you every Friday, you’re now 9 months old and I’ve yet to forget… ‘touch wood’! Today I waited until you’d had your bath and the results were breathtaking! In each picture you were so expressive, each one showing a different part of your personality. There’s no denying, as Mummy always says, we made such a beautiful baby 🙂

Recently we’ve had to adopt military tactics to get you to eat your greens. A combination of toys for distraction and now the use of ‘slight of hand’… I’m no magician but it’s also true you’re no ‘eagle eye’ 😀 I really hope you begin to eat better, Mummy puts a lot of time and effort into these meals! It’s most likely the texture that’s putting you off at the moment, that’s the excuse I use for no eating my greens 😀

I’ve taught you how to ‘High Five’ and Mummy has taught you to kiss, this morning I thought I’d see how the shapes would go. You still need a little more coordination and understanding of the shapes however… you’re an expert in smashing them together! 😀 Actually when it comes to most things, especially the rings… you like to smash things together 🙂

Your new ‘wheels’ just arrived from the garage! Woohoo! Last Birthday you got the keys and we joked about waiting until you’re 18 for the car… however… surprise! 😀 As you’re still learning to crawl we have to limit your time in it to 15 minutes a day, however for those precious minutes… put those feet to the floor baby!

Let’s see how Mummy & I pimped it out!

So you weren’t exactly a speed demon but it was your first time in one, I believe you’ve only used a baby jumper at the creche so far. I’m sure over the next week you’ll improve… however our main focus is on getting you to crawl.

Mummy and I felt a little bad that you couldn’t really use the blocks we got you, the corners were a little too sharp 🙁 So… we treated you to a more suitable and interactive toy, remember I told you cartoons are bad… Mmkay? (so many TV references you won’t get :D). Anyway, without further ado, I give you the ‘VTech Activity Cube’:

Happy Birthday again Little One! Can’t wait until the next 🙂

P.S. When it comes to entertaining you… and myself come to think of it, I’m a little crazy my ‘Little Piggy’!

So after our long shopping trip, and while we unpacked, we put you on the couch to relax. You looked so chilled, not a care in the world 😀 You can watch yourself slowly start to slip further down as the video progresses 🙂 Don’t worry though, Mummy saved you… I was busy filming it all!!

Today while shopping we decided to see how you’d fare in the shopping trolley. You managed to sit there quite well, however I couldn’t really do much as I was constantly scared you’d slip. If the seat had a side to it then it would of been fine. You enjoyed your short lived time in the big seat 🙂

Mummy also treated you to a ride in the boat with what I believe was a hamster, but I could be wrong. There was also a little girl there who came along for the ride, you seemed to be more focused on her than the ride 😀

Obviously you’re not reading this at 9 months old so I can get away with giving you some spoilers to your next birthday present. Can you guess what it is?

And if you still can’t guess what it is… here’s another clue 😀

Next birthday is going to be fun for all!

Daddy

Hi! My name is (what?)
My name is (who?)
My name is
Emily

You may remember this top/sweater from Spain? There’s no mistaking your name now Emma… er… I mean Emily!

Daddy

We know you love cartoons and we’re doing all we can to minimize your exposure, however you’ve really developed an addiction. I’ve noticed over the last couple of weeks, when changing you, you’re still responding to what’s happening on the TV. It was only today I suddenly noticed you were watching the reflection in the window 😀 It seems you’ll do anything to maximize your screen time!

Don’t worry, you’re now at the age where there are a lot more interactive toys available to you. You’re now changing from having square eyes to putting square objects in square holes 😀

Daddy

I think I’ve said this every birthday, it’s incredible how fast things are going. Mummy still says she can’t believe she has a daughter, let alone a 9 month old 😀 It’s not a milestone birthday but that didn’t stop us from celebrating it. In Romania presents are usually given in gift bags, in the UK we tend to wrap things… we thought it would be nice to make the opening of your present more challenging! See for yourself:

We celebrated with a cake, which Mummy pointed out was the same one that we had for your 3 month birthday. The building blocks we got you had animals, numbers and shapes on them. They’re a little big as you can see, a block is nearly as big as your head! 😀 You’ll grow into them in no time.

And what is a birthday without some fireworks?!?! Ok… some bubbles… you get fireworks on your first birthday in Romania.

Daddy