On the Move.

Cosette and I were sitting on the floor one evening a few weeks ago; Cosette was next to me amusing herself by picking up microscopic specks of god-knows-what off the floor and eating them. Juliette was sitting at her art table involved in the creation of yet another masterpiece. Juliette called to me to look at her painting, so I turned my head to admire it, happy that some of the paint actually made it onto the paper. And then I turned my head back and saw Cosette sitting four feet away from me. It was a twilight zone moment. I assume she moved herself, but she may have been beamed over, too. Moving herself would have required her to (1) move out of sitting position into crawling position. (2) crawl. and (3) get out of crawling position back into sitting postion. She looked quite proud, which made me believe she had moved herself. She also seemed a little startled, but that just might be because she finally realized what those hands and knees were for. I could almost hear her thoughts: "Movement! By myself! Hahaha, I can now wreak havoc on mommy's organized little world!"

Because, yes, once you have a crawling infant around, things become that much more difficult. I have complained about how chaotic and disorganized everything is. It only gets worse once you have a self propelled infant around. One of her favorite activities is to Take It Down. As in- "take all the books down off the bookshelf". Or, "take all the tupperware down out of the cabinet." Or how about "take all of the dishes out of the dishwasher." If they are dirty, and there is some residual liquid and food scraps on them and on the dishwasher door, well that just makes it even more interesting. I thought we were sufficiently childproofed, but Cosette is good at pointing out the things I've missed. Haha, the dogs water bowl is a fun water table! Haha, remember you ran out of outlet plugs and left one outlet in the dining room open thinking that I'd never crawl in here on my own? Think again mommy! Hahaha, the toilet- more splashing potential! And what can be more fun then unraveling entire rolls of tp? I'll tell you... shredding it to pieces and then eating it! We still need a gate for the bottom of our stairs- we had one, but once we remodeled the push-lever hold mechanism became obsolete since all we have is a small railing. Cosette views the staircase as her own Mount Everest. I said this out loud the other day, and Juliette piped up "No, Mommy, we aren't mountain climbers." Only two and a half years old and she is already correcting me.

But oh boy is Cosette is on the move. Just about 5 minute after she learned to crawl, she decided that she didn't like having to look up at everything, so she started pulling herself up to a standing position. Now, she'll even let go and stand for a few seconds before falling with a thump onto her diaper-padded bum. With all that activity you'd think she would wear herself out and sleep better, but no, sleep is for babies. Wait. Um, yes, well, that is, except for my babies.

I can't really complain; we are all happy and for the moment, healthy. Except for the perpetual runny nose which seems to be a given for a day-care baby. At least Cosette doesn't have rivers of snot running down her face like some of the other infants. Wiping snot off my own daughter's nose doesn't bother me so much, but other children's snot still grosses me out, especially in such large and colorful quantities.

But I digress. Cosette had her checkup the other day, and everything seems fine. So here they are, the 9 month stats:

• Weight, 18 lbs 15 oz.
• Height: 27 3/8 inches.
• Shots: 1.
• Compensatory kisses: about 100.

Cosette is proportional, but dropping in the stats, hovering around the 50th percentile for height and weight. I was somewhat relieved; in the beginning she was at 10 and 80, respectively, and I thought I would have a short fat baby. Then she was at 80 and 80 and I thought I was going to have an amazon baby. Tall women do not run in my family. Juliette was always around the 25th percentile- or lower. And I was always off the charts. Off the charts in the negative direction- a little midget next to my peers. Anyway, the pediatrician still had no miraculous insights into how to get her to sleep through the night, but she was very impressed with Cosette's vocalizations and strength. Cosette even cooperated and said "Mama" clearly enough that even the pediatrician thought she meant it. Yes, that is right, her first meaningful word was Mama. Ha. I deserve the recognition!