Week 43 update

I don't even know where to begin. It seems like it's been ages since I've posted, but I'm not sure what's news and what I've said before. I'll just throw it out there and hopefully I'll cover everything.

• Mia was back at the doctor again last week for another ear infection. We counted it up and that makes six trips to the doctor for her ears. The doc said we would discuss tubes at her nine month appointment, which was this week.
• At the appointment, she still had fluid on her ears, even after a week on an antibiotic. That makes four ear infections and three times when she had fluid on her ears. According to medical guidelines, it's enough to warrant tubes. The doctor suggested we try Zyrtec daily first though, to see if that dries up the fluid, thus preventing infection. We started that immediately. 
• Yesterday Mia's ear was hurting again and she had a fever. We aren't sure if it's her new teeth or her ears. We'll wait until the teeth are in and evaluate what's going on with the ear. If it's not better, I'm going ahead and getting an appointment with an ENT.
• At Mia's nine month appointment she weighed in at 20 pounds 6 ounces, 75th percentile. She was 29 inches long, 90th percentile. They were very pleased, as she's continued on the same projectile since her 6 week check-up. They said it is good when babies stay around the same percentile rankings because their growth patterns are consistent.
• Mia is a crawling machine. She also pulls up and walks around while holding onto furniture, although somewhat tentatively. She has tried to "walk up" our end table though, because it has three levels, like stairs. Had to grab her very quickly on that one!
• She loves to clap and wave and does so any time she hears "hi" or "bye".
• Mia has a book with pictures in it of me, Mike, Cara and the dogs. I've been asking her to point to the doggie, Mommy, Daddy, babies and more often than not she does so correctly.
• Mia is eating a lot of new solids. Tonight she tried ravioli for the first time (cheese with no sauce) and loved it.
• Tooth number four broke through today and number five is right behind it. 
• Mia and her cousin Cara went to see Santa Claus over the weekend. They both seemed to experience a little stranger anxiety and did not smile for the photo. I couldn't quite hear what they asked for, but I'm sure Santa will bring them exactly what they want.
• Speaking of stranger anxiety, that has started to kick in a little. Mia isn't as eager to go to strangers as before and needs to size up new people for a bit before warming up to them.
• Right now the word "no" will stop Mia in her tracks. Not sure how long that will last, but it's prevented her from mouthing firewood, grabbing cleaning supplies, playing in the dogs' food bowls, pulling the laptop onto her head, etc.
• Mia loves to talk and is making some new sounds: f, sh, and th. She also LOVES to click her tongue and hear herself laugh and yell in varying pitches.
• I've noticed when Mia is happy she says "dada dada" and when she's sad or scared she says "mama mama". 
• Mia crawls with her head held down. Dad and Sue said she crawled right into a wall today!
• She's been pushing up onto her head a lot from a crawling position, almost like she's trying to do a headstand. I think we're going to contact Bela Karolyi if she keeps it up. ;-)