soft like a hug: Eight Month Update

I look like such a little young man with my haircut now! This month I spent lots of time crawling, exploring, trying to stand, and eating!

Developments:
I've mastered crawling and am on the move! But that isn't good enough for me. Now I want to walk! I spend most of my time pulling myself up to standing, trying to climb, and trying to walk. I'm very curious and am always looking for the next thing to grab and/or put in my mouth. I just can't sit still. It's especially tiring to go anywhere outdoors with me. During Kaitlyn's soccer classes, I usually spend the whole time fighting Mommy and trying to crawl to the edge of the picnic blanket so I can put fistfuls of grass into my mouth.

Verbally, I still make lots of screechy, squealy sounds, but no real consonant sounds or attempts to imitate others.

Disposition:

I will admit that I am pretty high maintenance. I am constantly demanding Mommy's attention, and both my stranger and separation anxiety have gotten worse this month. Independent play is not my strong suit, and I get mad if Mommy doesn't hold me or entertain me. It gets difficult for her to cook or do anything around the house.

I don't have a lovey but I'm very attached to my muslin swaddle blankets. Whenever I get fussy Mommy will put one near me and I'll bury my face into it to soothe myself. We always have them on hand - in the car seat, around the house, in my crib. I always sleep with one in my crib and it helps me to settle down to sleep.

Teeth:
My first tooth popped out! I now have a bottom left tooth, and am a step closer to being able to chew and eat more!

Eating:
Speaking of eating, I absolutely LOVE to eat! So much that meal time is the most stressful time of day for everyone. As soon as I'm put into the high chair it's like I can't get food fast enough. I'll start screeching and banging my hands on the tray until there is food in my mouth. They were trying to teach me the hand sign for "more" but I think banging my hands on the tray is sufficient.

Following with the baby-led weaning approach, we pretty much skipped the purees and went straight to table food, chopped up into tiny pieces. I love eating foods with texture and have tried all kinds of things, including mac n' cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, and rice and beans. My favorites include chicken, especially the rotisserie chicken from Costco, and a baby-friendly version of Daddy's Italian Wedding stew.

Since I never took a bottle, I'm starting to learn to use a sippy cup. But so far, I have no interest in drinking from it. I love chewing the spout, then turning the cup over to chew on the base, and eventually dropping it onto the floor.

Kaitlyn was really excited and proud to share her grilled cheese sandwich with me.

Sleep:
I practically spent the entire month in the Pack n' Play in the spare bedroom, since it was so much easier to not worry about waking Kaitlyn up. It made sleep training easier too, and I can now sleep close to twelve hours (7pm to 7am) at night, with one or two wake-ups in between.

I've also consolidated to two naps a day - I've been following this 2-3-4 schedule (first nap two hours after waking, second nap three hours after the first, and bedtime four hours after the second nap) and it's been working really well. It's nice to finally have some predictability and consistency.