9!

Ellena is 9 months old today! And wow, she is developing so quickly! Tooth number 5 is completely out and she's currently working on #6. The rest of her gums looks like there will be a tooth explosion in the next few months - ouch.

Ellena is learning sign language and Evan loves to show her the signs. She can do "more" when she's not feeling lazy or sassy. She is also very expressive and gives a lot of non-verbal cues. Like if she wants something, she really reaches out for it.

A few days ago, Ellena started saying, "Momma". Yay! "Poppa" is not far off. She definitely understands who everyone is and when we ask her to find someone, she will look at that person. She is also waving hello and goodbye. It's a wild, side-to-side arm swing, but still a wave. But she remains very leary of strangers. She gets really serious and refuses to smile or wave to strangers. But hams it up for the people she knows and trusts.

Evan has had to learn the "distraction technique" now that Ellena is mobile. She is always interested in the toys that he plays with, so I told him he needs to give her something else to distract her. He likes this much more than having Ellena take away his toy.

Here's Ellena and Poppa doing their slow dance. She gets such a kick out of that.