9 months old

Yesterday, we reached the 9 month point. I am so proud of how well Jessicat is coming on. She can now: wave (pretty much to order), lean her face into ours to give us a kiss, put up her hand to shake hands or high five, turn pages of a book to order, point to some objects when asked (a bit hit and miss this), blow raspberries, babble and sing and scream, feed herself with finger foods, take her weight on her feet and participate enthusiastically in games of peekaboo. No sign yet of crawling, and despite my early excitement a few weeks ago, no readily recognizable words, though lots of approximations of "dada" and "mama", but mostly without meaning still I'm afraid to say.

In some ways, sharing books with Jessicat is more difficult than it used to be, as she is impatient to turn the pages, and nearly always wants to take charge, which means it is difficult to follow any kind of narrative. But, interestingly, when sat on the floor surrounded by toys, she nearly always makes a beeline for one of her board books, amusing herself by turning the pages and fingering the spine or "kissing" pictures of other babies.

I've spent this week listening to The Crane Wife by the Decemberists. I wouldn't normally go for this kind of folk-rock, but the strong melodies and lyrics of this band have captivated me. TV wise, I've watched The Taming of the Shrew from the BBC Shakespeare Re-Told series (I love them!) and I'm reading a collection of Boris Johnson's newspaper columns. Been a bit off colour this week, so I am definitely ready for a weekend with Dave and Jess!