Happy 9-month birthday, dear Becca-Bear! It’s hard to believe that 9 months ago today our little girl was born weighing only 2 lbs, 0.8 oz. and measuring only 14in. As of today, Becca weighs 15 lbs, 1 oz. and is 24.5in long! She’s come a long way from having a body (shoulders to bottom) that was the length of a teaspoon.

We’re enjoying watching and hearing Becca experiment with new sounds. She’s got the “da-da” sound mastered, knows how to make clicking sounds with her tongue, and loves to talk. I recently taught her how to do a motor boat sound with her tongue, which resulted in her drool being dispersed all about.

Becca is a generally happy baby, as long as she’s fed and rested. She loves to be around us as we work and doesn’t like to let us leave the room for too long. She’s working on sitting up by herself  and we’re trying to get her to roll over from her back to her stomach. I’m not sure if it’s because Becca sees us read all the time, but it seems like Becca really likes books. (This week Josh finished reading me The Return of the King — the third book in The Lord of the Rings!) We plan to get some more baby-friendly books so she can improve her reading repertoire!

This weekend Josh’s friend Lap came from Lubbock for a few days to work with Josh on Jarai research, as well as discuss teaching linguistics. Josh and Lap usually communicate over email and Skype, and it was nice for them both to be able to work together in person. On Saturday, we had Dr. Pat Davis over for lunch. Dr. Davis did research and literacy work in Eritrea and I met with her in July to interview her concerning my dissertation topic. I really enjoyed hearing about Dr. Davis’ world-wide literacy work. Josh’s semester officially starts today and we’re getting ready for a new schedule. I hope to turn my prospectus in by Labor Day and will continue working on it as I wait to hear back from my committee. We’d both appreciate your prayers for our busy semester.