9 month visit

Here are Holly's stats for her latest visit:

• Weight 23lbs, 9 oz
• Height 29 1/4 inches
• HC 46 cm

She enjoyed her visit, particularly since it involved only one little shot (Hep B follow up). However, we're in a bit of an interesting time right now for Holly where she's asserting her independence. She's crawling at high speed, growing a new tooth and talking up a storm. Unfortunately, she's decided that being fed with a spoon and taking a bottle is for babies. She, on the other hand, is all grown up now and so therefore she wants to feed herself solids and milk either comes from mama or not at all.

Yes, we've tried everything to talk her out of these decisions. I'm fine with her feeding herself (although it's quite messy- Frank has taken to hanging out under her highchair and is quite fond of her mess), but rejecting the bottle has caused considerable difficulties. After trying everything to get her to take milk (warm/cold, bottle/sippy cup, 4 different kinds of nipples, etc.) we had to move to damage control and make sure she gets plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. She will take a little milk mixed with water in a sippy cup (but not straight milk) to get her through the day. Otherwise, she only eats solids from 7am until 4pm. She is then VERY glad to see me at 4pm and spends the evening making up for her lost milk.

The other issue is that Holly has always taken a bottle and then gone down for her naps. Without the bottle, she's also given up on napping. These last few days she's pretty much only napped in the car or in the stroller. She's been doing this for a week, although over the weekend it's not an issue since we spend all day together, and although at first we thought maybe it was just more teething---now---I don't know---maybe it's a new phase. Now the only question is whether she gets this stubborn streak from her mom or her dad. Since I'm writing the post, I can assert that it's entirely from her father...