9 months, 1 day

Although there have been some previous rumors of Nina taking steps (see the comment section of this post), I witnessed Nina's first official steps last Friday. Here are all the gory details:

A few weeks ago, we bought Nina a cart that she can push around. She instantly started holding on and walking behind it. In the intervening weeks, she has pushed it around a bit but didn't seem terribly excited about it.

Then last Friday, she got a bug up her butt that she was going to push that damn cart around! She pushed it all over the house with this huge excited grin on her face. It was amazing - there was no stopping her. Until of course she would get the cart stuck against the wall, and then she would pitch a fit - screaming and crying until I moved the cart so she could push it again. Then she would smile and laugh and continue on again.



After a good 20 minutes, she seemed like she was getting worn out so I put the cart out of sight. Then I had her stand up and I held a big blue ball in front of her. Sure enough she took two step towards it! Absolutely amazing!! The cart had warmed her up and so she was ready to go it alone! She took more steps over the weekend and this week as well. So in the end, Aunt Andrea, you were right - first steps at 9 months. Wow.

In less monumental (but still pretty exciting) news, this week Nina has started to wave bye-bye. She holds her arm up and flaps her little wrist. It is so silly looking.

Let's end with a super-cute picture of Nina looking uncharacteristically subdued.