Nine Months' Old Today!

Today, the girls turned nine months! I truly enjoyed their eighth month probably the most, so I'm a little sad that it's now over. They had their 9-month checkup, and Claire is weighing in right at 18 pounds flat, and Caroline has passed her up and weighs 18 lbs, 10 oz. They're around the 45% percentile right now, so that's a big improvement over being in the low 10% for the first months of their lives.

They are not crawling yet, but the doctor just said that this is due to their more "laid-back" personality, and when they feel like they want something, they'll start to move to get it. He said many times twins are slower to crawl; he even sees a 15 month old little boy twin who is barely crawling right now! They definitely have begun reaching for toys a lot more when they're sitting, but their biggest motivation to move is our dog, Jack. He will sit just inches out of their reach, and they will grunt and reach and do all they can to try to touch him. I think he will be their impetus to begin crawling at some point.

They aren't self-feeding yet, but eat a good amount of solids (baby food) and are drinking around 20-24 oz. of milk a day now. They definitely are very aware of each other now and seem to look for each other and constantly reach for each other while eating or playing.

Caroline loves to smile when I get out the camera, and Claire just glares at me now and blinks her eyes a lot because she is expecting the flash.

When the girls were playing, Claire put her arm around Caroline and patted her back a lot this morning. She's always looking out for her sister!