Son las nueve meses

Today Evelyn is nine months old. Ridiculous, right? Lest I forget, here are some fun facts about Miss Mousekowitz (one of our current fav nicknames):

• Stats: Weight 17 lb. 7 oz. (33rd percentile), Height 27 inches (41st percentile), Giant Head 18 inches (94th percentile)... and yet she still wears almost nothing smaller than size 12-18 months.
  
• Academic milestones (seriously...): We had our first report card and parent-teacher conferences (in Spanish!) this week. It is the most detailed report card I've ever seen and it puts the little questionnaires that the pediatrician gives us about her development to shame. E got excellent marks but needs to work on some gross motor skills, so we're working at home and school to encourage her to build strength in her legs through supported standing and to help her position her body in hands-and-knees, "ready to crawl" position.
  
• She doesn't make us work quite so hard for smiles anymore. Or maybe we're just finally figuring out what makes her giggle.
  
• She still absolutely, unquestionably adores her cousin Linus. He could scream and squeeze her head all day and she would just smile and smile and smile.
  
• She makes lots of babbling noises, but no official first word yet. I'm pretty picky about what counts though, so it could be a while.
  
• She eats just about anything, save honey and cow's milk and a couple other things. And she's not really picky.
  
• She continues to be a champion sleeper, which is earning her top billing in the acknowledgments section of my dissertation. I honestly could not do what I need to do for school if she didn't sleep so well.
  
• She can almost always fall asleep, or at least calm all the way down, if you just give her a very soft blanket to hold and rub on her face and access to her thumb for sucking.
  

And as for me, a paper and a test... that's what separates me from the end of my 11th semester of grad school. Can you believe I only have three more semesters to go? That's a magic number.