Pointing

Teagan's babyhood seems to be flying by as she acts more and more like a toddler every day. She is able to communicate so much now, and shows us that she understands a lot of what we say. She can do so much for herself now. Recently, she was pulling things out of her diaper bag, found the snack cup that I keep O's in, opened it up, and helped herself to a snack! I didn't even realize that she knew how to open that container! She pulls up on everythings, cruises, and stands on her own for a few seconds at a time. About a week ago, she started pointing at things. Pretty quickly, she figured out that she can point at something to indicate what she wants. Most of all, I think she just enjoys the power to direct our attention at something. Such a fun stage, but how did my baby grow up so fast?

First Word

Okay, so maybe she didn't exactly say her first word, but she did sign it! We have been consistently showing Teagan the sign for cup every time we give her the sippy cup for the last few months. Yesterday, she actually started signing it herself! We do the ASL sign for cup, but Teagan has kind of come up with her own sign, opening and closing her hand, which is actually more like the sign for "milk". We've never even shown her that sign. Now when I ask her if she wants a drink, she does the sign. When we walked into the kitchen this afternoon and she saw her cup on the counter, she did the sign. I don't think she was necessarily asking for her cup, but just pointing it out to me. She seems so excited to be able to "say" something and have us understand it. At dinner I was telling Paul that I had the video camera out so I could tape her asking for a drink. She started doing her sign as soon as I said the word "drink."



And just for fun, here is also a video of Teagan "dancing" tonight.

Little Valentine

Although we only went out for a short time on Saturday, Teagan had to wear her special Valentine shirt for the occasion. She gave me a special little Valentines "present" by spending a few extra hours with me in the early morning. We have had some rough nights lately, and she was up from about 3am to 5am. The most recent teeth that are coming in really seem to bothering her. After I finally got her back to sleep, she woke up around 8:30am happy as can be. It is so sweet when she wakes up smiling and laughing.

Teagan Crazy Hair

Now that Teagan's hair is starting to get longer, it sure can look crazy! When she wakes up from her nap she always has a pretty good poof either on the top or on one side. It can also be funny to "style" her hair while it is all wet in the bath. We may have to change her nickname from Teagan Cutie Pie to Teagan Crazy Hair.

Teagan went to her first Stars game on Sunday, but unfortunately she was not impressed. I think she just felt very overwhelmed whenever we went into the arena. I tried several times to sit with her in our seat, but she immediately started crying. So, I spent the whole time walking around with her or sitting at a table and letting her play with toys. At least for part of the time I was able to sit in a lounge area that had TV so we could see the game. The Stars won, so at least Paul, Steve, and Connor had a good time.

Spinach

I had been trying to think of how to prepare spinach in a way that Teagan would be able to eat, since I usually just eat it as a salad. While looking through a cookbook, I got the inspiration to lightly steam it and then chop it in my mini food processor. It was the perfect texture and size and she ate it right up mixed with some rice. She looked so happy that I just had to take a picture. So far, she will eat just about anything as long as she can feed it to herself. She lets me "help" with yogurt by handing her the spoon, but that's about all the assistance she will tolerate! It's actually quite nice to be able to just put her food on her tray while we eat our meal at the same time.

I recently got a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious, and it has a lot of great recipes that use fruit and vegetable purees to add extra fruit and vegetable servings to your diet. I can't wait to try some of them out. They all look really good! A big part of Teagan's diet is still mainly fruits and vegetables, but now that she is also eating some pasta, breads, and rice, I can see how it gets harder to still fit all the fruits and vegetables in that we all need each day.

9 months old!

I can't believe Teagan is already 9 months old. Almost time to start planning her first birthday party! She had a check up this week and is now 20 lbs 9 ozs (85th percentile) and 29 inches tall (90th percentile). She's just growing and growing! She's been a little grumpy last week due to 3 new teeth coming in, but hopefully this next week will be better. She still loves to giggle at playing Peek A Boo and gets very excited when she sees the cat. She's really taken off with crawling recently and it is so cute to watch her crawl all around the house.

Mini Me

Although this isn't actually the best time to post this pic (don't tell Teagan the Stars just lost - she's sleeping), this was actually taken on Saturday when the Stars won. Teagan was dressed up in her jersey just like her Daddy to watch the game. We've been thinking about taking her to her first hockey game, but I'm not sure if she's quite ready. The noise and the crowds might still be too overwhelming.

Busy girl!

It is so much fun to play on the floor with Teagan. She moves around so quickly, pulls up on things, and sometimes either sits down in or gets stuck under her toys when she is crawling backwards! She has been doing hands and knees crawling more but still drops her belly down and scoots if she wants to get somewhere fast. She likes to turn the pages of her books and touch the pictures. She can also cruise along the couch and will move between her play table and the couch while holding on. She is so busy when playing! You can't ever turn your back on her now though, mainly because she puts everything in her mouth. She will find any little speck, crumb, or carpet fiber and try and eat it. She even tries to pick fuzz off her wool pants and put it in her mouth. She sometimes acts like she is picking something up and put her fingers in her mouth, even if there is nothing in her hand. Hopefully this stage won't last too long.

Cousins

Teagan has been enjoying her new Christmas toys. She even seemed to like sharing them with her cousins. My sister April was in town after Christmas so we were able to all get together (Teagan + her 6 cousins!) several times. Her cousins Audrey and Ethan liked playing with her toy kitchen and her cousin Aaron played with the activity table with her.

Bath fun

Teagan has a foam play mat that we keep on the kitchen floor. Since it gets walked on and spit up on, I decided it was time for a good washing. Once I took the pieces apart and rinsed them in the tub, Teagan looked like she wanted in on the fun. She needed a bath anyways, so I just put her in with the playmat pieces. She had a great time!