39 weeks and 5 days
Sunday, January 16th, 2011
On the 11th of January, Jessica was 39 weeks and 5 days old. Just a few days over 9 months. And now out in the world for the same time as her theoretical gestation period!
Those of you who have been reading for a while might recall the blog article I did for Jon when he passed this milestone. After hunting down the entry I was surprised and amused to see how many similarities there are. I suppose because the time feels like it’s all gone so much faster with Jess, it seems as if her developments have been quicker than Jon’s were, whereas in reality, they’re not very different.
Jess at 9 months is a bundle of curious energy. She wants to see and touch EVERYTHING.
This broad curiosity is great when it comes to keeping her amused with toys. She’s keen to look at just about anything, and very good at manipulating stuff. I love the look of concentration she gets when she’s investigating something new, but it’s really hard to photograph because she’s way too quick to spot the camera and wants to look at that instead!
We’re finding Jess’s little personality is coming through strongly too. Always a girl who knew her mind, Jess is not slow to let you know if you’re doing something she’s not keen on. Amusingly – for now at least – she’s fiercely possessive about whatever she’s engaged with. Much more so than most babies I’ve seen. Take it away, whatever it may be (toy, paper, hair, glasses, person), and Jess will protest vigorously. Until provided with another distraction at least.
Oh, and everything just has to go into the mouth lately. Sucking things is a major fad.
Jess became quite a rolly baby around the 8 month mark – nappy changes have become really hard work since then! – and while she hasn’t turned that into crawling yet, she’d clearly love to. More recently, any encouraging pull upwards (even as gentle a tug as pulling a top off over her head), and she’s up onto her feet in a flash!
Also around the time she started rolling, Jess decided she didn’t mind sitting up too much. (Before then we had to contend with her throwing herself backward the moment we tried it.) Compared with the long phase of unreliable sitting we had with Jon, Jess mastered this one quickly and is now very comfortable on her little fundament.
Food-wise we’ve nothing to complain about. Jessica is keeping up Jon’s tradition of being a great eater. This time around, we followed the new vogue and started Jess on lumpy mush quite early, so she gums away with the best of them. (Having a go with her two little teeth whenever she can.) Jess is easily distracted (as ever) while she eats, but is usually happy for us to keep spooning it in, and bleats when it stops coming.
I’m pleased to report that Jess is pretty much back on track with her sleeping lately, although we did have more than our fair share of hiccups over the last few months. She gets exposed to plenty of fresh germs with Jon going to nursery, and sleeping with heavy congestion is not something that anyone would find easy. What may or may not have been the solution to our problems (and I feel somewhat ambivalent about this) is that we started pinning her dummy chain to her at night and she has been known to find it and put it back in…
Jess is great fun to interact with, showing her avid interest in toys, books and even facial expressions. She’s full of smiles (much like Jon at this age), babbles a lot, and is so rewarding to pay attention to. Jess is still very fond of Jon, and chuckles readily for him which he loves.
Overall our little Jess has been a delightful addition to the family. She’s introduced her fair share of challenges, but I couldn’t imagine life without her!
