eight months

*We are a couple of days late on this one, and this photo...don't even ask. I blame teething. It's real, and it's not fun.*

Whelp, here we are again. It doesn't feel like it's been a minute over a day since I was writing your 7-month recap. I'm losing the fight - whether I like it or not, you are growing up way. too. fast.

There were lots of firsts this month, some of them good, some of them not so good. In the not-so-great category was your first illness. I'm so grateful we made it 7+ months without getting sick, but man, did we fall hard this month. Dad brought back strep throat from his work trip. He was sick first, then you got a virus of some kind (thankfully not strep), and then last, but not least, Mom went down with strep. Sick Charlie was just pitiful. It hurt my heart to see you so miserable. Sometimes I wish you could talk so you could tell me what's wrong because nothing seemed to make it better. We had a long few days of little sleep, many tears and lots of cuddling. We spent a lot of time driving around because that's the only way we could get you to nap. Thank goodness you were much better before I got sick or we would have really been in trouble!

A much more exciting first this month was crawling! I'd say your first good scoot happened at mommy & me pilates one morning as you ventured off your blanket to grab a toy. It was quickly followed by some serious army crawling, and you've been on the move ever since. You haven't graduated beyond army crawling yet, but you are getting pretty quick - especially when you really want to get somewhere. You made a beeline for the laptop the other day while Mom was streaming Olympic gymnastics online. You have also figured out how to get into a seated position on your own. You will prop up onto your hands and knees for several seconds before dropping to your stomach to crawl. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you master hands & knees crawling.  

Of course, with crawling comes the ability to go where you want and get into what you want. You have been thrilled with your new discoveries. Favorites include the fireplace screen and floor lamp, which you have figured out how to turn on/off, and the desk chair - you love pushing it back and forth. You also like to pull up the corners of rugs - just to make sure nothing fun is hiding underneath. At first, you stayed within a relatively small square radius, but you are branching out now. The other day, you managed to circumnavigate the couch to surprise me in the kitchen while I was cleaning up after breakfast. You've also started trying to climb a few things - the jumperoo pole, living room side table or me. Good thing baby-proofing is scheduled for later this week!

Last, but not least in the new-this-month bucket, your first tooth! Showing up just in time to be included in this updated, it literally popped through overnight on your 8-month birthday. Your gums have been swollen for a couple of weeks now (at first, I thought your virus symptoms were all due to teething, but nope, you were really sick), but things really ramped up on Friday. It was like someone turned on your drool faucet. By that night, you had a fever and were downright miserable. Saturday and Sunday were pretty cranky (although you somehow managed to behave perfectly fine for the babysitter and church nursery workers....clearly you saved all your crank for us), and sleep was up and down, but we survived. One tooth down, the other close behind....and then a whole lot more after that. Lord have mercy. 

In sleep news, we just transitioned from 3 to 2 naps. It caused a few hiccups as we figured things out, but it was a largely painless process. Teething or illness aside, you now take two good 1.5-2 hour naps. Bedtime is still 7:00-7:15 p.m. You've pushed your morning feeding back to 5-6 a.m. I'd rather not start my day that early so luckily, once you've had a quick snack, you will go back to sleep until 7 or 8. A few times you have slept all the way through from 7pm-7:30am, and I know you'll eventually do it consistently. You are a great napper, and generally go to sleep without any fuss or fanfare so I'm perfectly content with our current arrangement. Word on the playground from other moms is that it could be so much worse! 

This month we started Kindermusik classes. We go weekly on Friday mornings. You like song time at the library, but you LOVE kindermusik. It helps that they offer you fun instruments, scarves, and toys. When the teacher pulled out a parachute that was used to play a game during one song, you practically toppled over with glee. It was a huge public display of emotion for you. Based on your enjoyment factor, I think there will be many more Kindermusik classes in your future.

You have really taken off in regards to eating solids. Somedays you are more interested than others, but I'm amazed at how many times you've cleaned your plate. One day, when it was all gone, you just started licking your plate. Avacado was a big hit this month. You also like pears and chicken. I'll hand you a whole drumstick and you just nibble away until all the meat is gone. You insist on doing everything by yourself, and oddly enough, usually with just one hand. If I try to feed you with a spoon, you will demand to hold the spoon. I have to load it for you, let you navigate it into your mouth, and then quickly reclaim the spoon before it gets thrown overboard. Every now and then you'll make a face like you aren't enjoying something (greek yogurt comes to mind), but then you always just go right back for more.

We have been working on using a sippy cup, but with far less success. You have been more interested in chewing the handles than actually drinking from the cup. Of course, you'll readily drink dirty bath water from the cup I use to wash you hair, and you were lapping up stanky public pool water last week when we went swimming, but fresh, clean, filtered water from your sippy? Forget about it.

You continue to be fascinated by the world around you. It's so amusing to watch a tiny human try to understand things. I can imagine the world is very confusing to you - I'm afraid that feeling never fully goes away. You were fascinated by the groceries moving down the conveyor belt the other day. In fact, you are pretty much fascinated by all things at the grocery store or Target. You love riding in the cart darting your head all around. I can tell it's *almost* more than you can handle.

You make friends wherever we go. It might be the mouth-open-head-turned-sideways-furrowed-brow look that draws people in. Or perhaps it's the way you intently stare people down - never smiling, of course. I also think your red hair attracts admirers. I never tire of people telling me how adorable you are. I know I'm completely biased, but I believe everything strangers tell me. :)

You have started to show a lot of interest in figuring out your toys - taking the balls in and out of the basket, stacking rings, pulling the lever on your car, etc. You've never really been into mirrors, but they became a lot more interesting (and confusing!) when you realized you could touch them. Books are big fun these days - especially when Dad makes funny voices and sounds. Armpit tickles, belly raspberries and silly games/songs all make you laugh. It's still my most favorite sound.