Sydney’s new favorite activity is pushing boxes around the house to help her walk.  Here is a short clip:

Sydney also likes to blow raspberries and scream while sitting in her high chair.  Here she is in action:

And, finally, a photo with her cousin Wyatt, who just turned 4!

Collaborative effort by Allan and Devon

Sydney turned nine months old on Sunday, May 4th.

At nine months of age, Sydney is still very focused on standing up, preferably with a toy in each hand. She often crawls to a piece of furniture with toys in tow, stands up, realizes her toys are still on the ground, sits down, and then stands up again with them in hand. The toys make everything more difficult but it is good exercise!

Sydney’s favorite place to stand is her pink chair. She is constantly climbing up on the chair and standing against the gas fireplace. Here she is on her way up, toys in hand, and standing on the chair with one arm raised in victory.

Recently, Sydney started jumping off the above chair onto the floor and rolling.  She thinks it’s funny. It’s okay when we are there to catch her but this is not the safest activity.  Sydney’s tendency to be a bit rambunctious led her mom to invest in an adorable protective hat (soft helmet), which she can be convinced to wear, on occasion.

Another favorite activity of Sydney’s is stair climbing. She can climb up to the second floor quite quickly.  We of course don’t let her try going down yet.

A third new activity for Sydney is tooth-brushing.  While watching her mom brush her teeth, Sydney made it very clear she wanted to do it too!

Sydney also very much enjoys being pushed on a swing, in the park. She especially likes going to parks with lots of people and other children to look at.

Finally, Sydney clearly sees “Mom” as a protector and source of comfort. She has not yet started talking but her first word is “meh-meh”, which she uses to call Devon. By contrast, she sees “Dad” as a play thing. Just this evening, she created a new game which was crawl away, hide, and shriek with laughter when Dad came to get her.

Below is a final photo of Sydney sleeping at just shy of nine months. She has just recently starting sleeping eight to ten hours at night.  Because she typically goes to sleep around 7:00 PM, it still means a feeding either in the evening around 10:00 PM or early in the morning around 4:00 AM. She is growing very quickly!  She currently measures 29.5 inches (97 percentile of height for age) and she weighs 19 pounds, 5.5 ounces (69 percentile of weight for age.)

Exciting news… On Wednesday, April 16th, in New York, Sydney reached her arms toward her Mama and uttered “MMM… Meh Meh” for the first time!  As always, Sydney had a great time with her grandparents, cousins, other family members, dogs, and friends.  Sydney loved strolling on the busy streets of Manhattan (She loves to people watch!) and shopping for clothing for herself. While in New York, Sydney mastered: stair climbing, walking behind a rolling scooter, and sleeping at least 8 hours.  She also managed to repeat her cousin JJ’s name a few times, making him incredibly happy!  Photos below:

Sydney LOVES hanging out with her cousins, Luc (7) and JJ (3)

Sydney is very interested in JJ’s truck.

Luc loves to grab Sydney’s chubby cheeks, so Sydney does it back to him. (Smart baby gets Luc while he’s completely immersed in his video game!)

Sydney walks very well holding on to a rolling walker/scooter

Sydney often kisses her reflection in the mirror!

Sydney likes her “Meh Meh” ‘s baby photo

She is growing so quickly!