eight months

Lou Lou:

Hot dang. Another month. And this month was went as fast as your now-crawling legs move. That's right - you're officially crawling. You motor around all day long and particularly love to camp out in the bathroom. Belle has learned she has to shut the door when she goes to the bathroom because you'll follow her right in. You've pulled yourself up a few times - but never to the couch. Only on my legs when I'm sitting and on shorter things, like the book boxes at the library. And you do the stink bug move a lot, the one where you basically stand up, just with your hands on the ground. I have a sinking feeling that you'll walk earlier than I prefer. You are busy as a bee. You're always moving, always finding trouble, always putting tiny pieces of everything in your mouth. Unless it's nap or bed time, you are pretty much bouncing off the walls, a fact that made this month's photo shoot rather difficult (and a few days late as I had to wait for an evening that you were in a good mood and that Daddy was home to catch you when you dive bombed off the seat, as follows).

You have zero teeth still. However, that hasn't stopped you from eating. In the last month, you've become a great eater. I think this is because I pretty much let you eat (or at least try) whatever. You love bananas (which I often mix with other things), homemade wheat bread, avocados (you once ate almost an entire avocado in one sitting, no lie), rice puffs, prunes (also mixed with random stuff), yogurt of any kind, and this homemade mac and cheese (I mash it up for you). Strangely, you gagged big time when you tried noodles with marinara. Sometimes we let you play with your food (feed yourself) and sometimes I spoon feed you (like with messy bananas).

I wish I could say this food consumption was aiding in your sleep. It's not. You still like to get up at 3:30 a.m. to have a bottle snack. You hate-HATED the sippy the first time I gave it to you. You death screamed like the world was ending until I figured out you were just mad because it was water not formula. After I showed you that the good stuff was in there, you stopped death screaming every time you saw it.

About that death scream. Holy smokes you've got a scream. And it's not the same as your "I'm hurt" or "I'm hungry" scream. It's your angry/annoyed/give me what I want! scream, and it is LOUD. It's actually so loud it's comical. You are about as moody as they come, and we find it highly amusing. The good news is your mood swings up for the most part. But when it swings down - death. screams.

You say "mama" in direct reference to me now. I'm sure of that. And I swear that when you play with a ball you're saying "bahbahbahbah." You also say something very much like "dada" under your breath when you see him. And what you don't say with words, you very plainly communicate with whines, grunts, and screams. I've never seen a baby communicate so well without words as you do.

You're an enormous mama's girl still, but are doing better with "strangers" (including family). You love-love-love your daddy. You do the happiest dance when he walks in from work. If only you knew how special that makes him feel. You and your sister are still besties as well. She's doing really good at sharing and helping, although she has her moments. You two sometimes have giggle fests, and you especially love crawling after her.

You're a binky addict. We try our best to keep it out of sight unless you're death screaming or really tired. But boy howdy, you love it. You and Daddy play a game where he takes it out of your mouth by biting the handle and you yank it out of his mouth and try to put it back in. Sometimes you mimic him and try to bite it out of his mouth. This game makes you giggle to no end. You also love to give big open mouth slobber kisses, especially if I pucker up in your face. You then consider it your responsibility to slobber all over me.

You love music and reading. (Ah. My soul just sighed.) When you hear music, you whip around looking for it and especially love The Sound of Music. You will sit on my lap for tens of minutes (which is like an eternity for an insanely busy baby like you) and read books. You have favorites as well. You love Peek-A-Love and Whooo Loves You? and get really cranky if I move on to another book before you're good and ready.

You are tall and skinny. You'll probably be out of your carseat by next month, something I really don't want to talk about. Your little tootsies already hang off the end. You wear 12-18 month clothes and are still in a size 3 diaper, although I'm debating upsizing next box. You have a pretty good mohawk of hair now. I constantly vascilate between being absolutely certain your hair is straight like mine and then really sure that you've got the wave too. Only time will tell. Like your sister, it sometimes looks reddish, but I promise - it's not.

You are a little gem. You make us giggle daily. And I find you perfectly lovely. So glad you're ours.

Love,

Mama

Here she is at one month.

Here she is at two months.

Here she is at three months.

Here she is at four months.

Here she is at five months.

Here she is at six months.

Here she is at seven months.