Lovelies in my Life : The Butterfly is 9 Months Old

Portraits of a 9 month butterfly + a few words.

Scarlet Evangeline, you are so dreamy. So incredibly dreamy. Now, at 9 months old, you are crawling and pulling up to stand and even going up stairs. No problem! You're inquisitive and interested in what everyone is up to, so getting around was essential. You like to sit under coffee tables and suck on XBox remotes. You love baked potatoes and mac n cheese but also steamed broccoli and fruit leather. You're not really into purees anymore … those are so 2 months ago.

You love to play and pull up in your crib and one morning, when I came in to you, your sweet little pink wings were inside your bed with half the feathers powdering your mattress. Hmm … learned my lesson there. And at night (which, by the way, is still my least favorite time cause you don't like to sleep all the way through) when you call me for a snuggle, you're standing up as if you're the queen of the castle and we're about to have a disco. But yes, little lady, you wake at night and all your bros were sleeping through by now. I'm sort of unsure of how to tackle it. On one hand I think, awww you're so adorable and squishy and sensitive and my last baby ever. So let's just go with the flow on this one. And on the other hand I think, I am SO TIRED. I don't know. It's tough to argue with a face like that.

You love to talk now too. You say "mama" and "dada" but only if absolutely necessary (like when you're so incredibly sad that you simply must have one of us). And you love to roll out a long string of "lala" and "baba" and, every once in a while, to blow silly bubbles for a delighted audience of brothers.

The other evening, when I arrived home from teaching dance, you were asleep on your daddy's lap. Your head was forward, face in your duppy, like you had just given up on trying to hold it upright. I often come home to you on his lap, cuddling your duppy and sucking your thumb, eyes glazed over. But this time you were actually asleep while the house bustled around you.

We think you're wonderful, really truly wonderful.