Get month from date

[Yumby]

I'm trying to get the month from a date which is in the US format. So in the date 12/01/99 the month would be 12 (not 1). But I can't work it out. What am I doing wrong? Thank you.

ElseIf IsDate(txttestdate.Text) = True Then
Dim datval As Date
datval = Format(txttestdate.Text, "mmm d yyyy")
End If
MsgBox "The month is " & Month(datval)