9 MONTHS

It has been a big month for all of us. The most exciting news is that after 4 weeks, Bentlee got her cast off! Her leg isn't 100% healed, but new bone is growing in really well. It's not as dense as it will be, but she is doing great-still crawling around like crazy. That leg is just a little weak, she's not putting much weight on it when we stand her up. I still can't believe we went 4 weeks without a problem, and then 4 hours before her appointment, she had a blow up which resulted in this:

Needless to say, we were hesitant when asked if we wanted to keep the cast. (We actually did...they assured us we could take off the white padding and just soak the pink part)

The process of removing the cast was a little sad because the "saw" was loud and made her leg vibrate quite a bit. She didn't love it. Daddy held her hand which made it a little easier.

Within a week after I wrote Bentlee's 8 month post, she started waving, clapping, and playing peek-a-boo all on her own. She started crawling all over as well. Before she got her cast, she was crawling a tiny bit at a time (the first time we noticed it was Thanksgiving day), and about 2-3 weeks after she broke her leg she took off. I walked from my room to her room to put something away, and when I started back to my room I found her halfway there, following me on her hands and knees! And on Sunday, the day she turned 9 months, she cut her first tooth! Let's just say if she handles every new tooth the way she did this one, I will survive. :) Bentlee has been SO much fun. This is by far my favorite stage so far. She brings pure joy to our lives, and smiles to complete strangers.

Many babies have the ability to make airplane rides loud and torturous. My sweet girl simply provides enterainment and laughter. She and I flew to Michigan on Monday and we were surrounded by men on the plane. She smiled and flirted with every one of them the WHOLE time. At one point she was giggling and I turned around to find one of them playing peek-a-boo with her. She fell asleep eating as we were taking off, and when the flight attendant came around with the drink cart and asked not so quietly if "WE WOULD LIKE ANYTHING TO DRINK?" Bentlee's head shot off my shoulder and she stared up at her with an insta-grin, looking back and forth from her to the drink cart, as if she just woke up to the coolest thing in the whole world. Despite my efforts to bounce her back to sleep, she was perfectly content with her bag of pretzels which I requested for that purpose only (you know you're a mom when....) and smiling at one guy to the next, while periodically touching the man's arm next to us ever so affectionately, almost to the point of embarrassment. The flight attendants wouldn't stop talking about how happy she was, and a lady we met at our gate kept coming over and talking to her.

Two things that I'm surprised she hasn't learned yet are taking her binki out to eat, and feeding herself finger foods. If I cut up a banana and put it on her highchair, it is mashed and on the floor within seconds. And if I feed her puffs or other snacks, she holds as many as she can in her fist, for as long as possible. It's kind of cute, but I'm ready for her to grasp this concept. On the other hand, this means she doesn't put anything, including non-edible items in her mouth, which is very nice. She's funny because she'll notice a microscopic crumb on the floor several feet away, crawl over to pick it up and examine it for minutes. But I've never seen her put anything in her mouth.

I love getting Bentlee out of crib. Whether it's in the morning, after naps, or if I'm waking her up to go somewhere, she gets the sweetest little grin on her face when she hears my voice, sometimes before her eyes are even open. And when I pick her up I get the most enthusiastic little pats on my shoulder and chest. 

She still adores other little people. We had my cousins Daisy and Anna over for a sleepover last week and a couple different times I had to bring Bentlee upstairs (away from them) for a minute or two, and she threw a FIT! Like, a tantrum of a two year old, complete with banging her head on the floor. It was hilarious. I didn't know she had it in her. The second we went downstairs and she spotted them again, she was as happy as a clam.