At almost nine months, she’s a little comedian, and she doesn’t even know it. When she eats, she looks like a little old woman gumming her food. And you’d think she was a contestant in a food race, with her chubby cheeks working overtime. As soon as she swallows, she’s ready for more. How do we know? She opens her mouth with her tongue hanging down past her lower lip, of course! But she’ll let us know when she’s full, too. When Nandi starts spitting out her food and flashing us a goofy grin, we know she’s had enough.
But back to her two teeth, that are front and center at the bottom of her mouth. While feeding her one day a few weeks back, my husband said, “Have you noticed her teeth coming in?” I had to do a double-take, because I thought it was just the light reflecting off of the spit bubbles in her mouth – but no, he was right. My baby girl had some teeth!
Some baby experts say little ones can experience four teething symptoms:
• Drool rash caused by excessive drooling
• Diarrhea
• Coughing
• Fever
Over the past few months, we’d seen three out of the four symptoms, but the fevers worried me the most. Some experts say babies may experience low-grade fevers while teething (less than 101 degrees Fahrenheit). Another thing we noticed was that she was waking up in the middle of the night and getting cranky for no reason at times. I don’t know if we can chalk it all up to teething, but it could very well be the culprit. For the most part though, my little angel is still full of energy, with her happy self.
And speaking about full of energy, my husband and I almost did cartwheels when she started crawling. But I kept wondering if something was wrong with her. She was crawling, but dragging her stomach along the floor like a little Navy Seal. After doing some “research” (Googling on the Internet), I found that her unique way of movement is called the “commando crawl”. Relieved, now I can look at her and giggle – plus, she’s now learning to crawl on all fours.
Another major milestone, to us, was when she first started showing her appreciation for music by clapping in church during praise and worship (a little before she turned eight months old). When Nandi and I sing “Patty Cake” together (well, I’m singing and she’s making humming noises and laughing hysterically), her face seems to light up with excitement.
Like most loving and proud parents, my husband and I try to record the memorable moments by taking hundreds of photos and videotaping her every move. My husband says he’ll show her the incriminating (yet oh so adorable) photos when she turns 16. “She’ll look at these photos and really be embarrassed,” he says with a devilish chuckle.
Yep, I remember the embarrassing photos my parents took of me (I remember one where I was standing on top of the coffee table with just a graduation cap and a diaper on). I just sit back and smile, knowing the photos we’re taking of Nandi are oh so adorable to us, but she’ll think otherwise when she reaches puberty, I’m sure.
But for now, we’ll continue to enjoy watching her grow like a little weed (my beautiful, precious weed) and document each tooth and every other milestone we can capture on camera.
Chandra Caradine is a Sr. Communications Specialist for Texas Health Resources and always ready with the camera.
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