This month was SO much fun. I said in my last update that I thought everything would really take off soon, and I was not wrong. You are officially on the move, and loving every minute of it.
You started army crawling pretty soon after hitting 7 months, and then you spent a couple of weeks doing a lot of planking in the process of trying to learn how to crawl. At 8 months on the dot, you started real crawling on your hands and knees. It must have been your way of celebrating mom and dad's 10th anniversary. We knew you were *this* close, and sure enough, you just decided to up and do it one day. There wasn't too much easing into it. The day before you had taken one or two lunges forward, and the next day you were crawling across the room no problem.
Even though I knew this was coming, I still feel unprepared. Sometimes I'm still surprised when I find you somewhere quite far from where I put you down. To make matters even more complicated, your next move after crawling was to immediately find a way to climb the step from the living room into the dining room. It's almost like you were just chomping at the bit to get over there and figure it out. Needless to say, things have escalated quickly around here.
Of course, being mobile has huge advantages for you. You love exploring....and you love finding trouble. You really enjoyed picking up the air vent so we had to secure it to the floor. You also love licking the fridge. The upstairs landing is a bit of a problem because it has a step down. Naturally, you always want to head straight for it. The other day I found you halfway off the step with your brother helping you down so you didn't get hurt. It was both sweet and terrifying. Don't worry, we do have a gate, and yes, it was closed. Still, mama clearly ain't ready and I need to adjust more quickly!!
Somehow you've managed to become even more expressive. You have this cute little happy grunt that you do all the time. Perhaps it's because you are so delighted with yourself and your new mobility. You smile and laugh all the time, and we can tell you take great pride in your accomplishments. You are trying to pull up on things, and I suspect by next month you will have mastered that.
You are starting to do more babbling, and I've definitely heard a "mama" or two. I'm sure it's not intentional yet, but one of the most clear times you said it was right after I said "bye bye" and was walking out the door. I'm determined it will be your first word so hopefully we are on the right track.
You may have noticed I didn't start this update talking about sleep. I'm so relieved that's its a back-burner issue right now. You continue to be a great napper, and your are still sleeping through the night. I don't think I had to go in during the night one time this month. Hallelujah. Sometimes you'll cry before bed, but it's usually very short-lived. Waking you up is the best. I like to go in and take you to the chair for cuddles while you nurse. Since I don't nurse you to sleep anymore, it's my best time of day to get in my snuggles. When you wake up on your own, you hang out in your crib rolling around and chatting for a bit. Then when I go to get you, you always greet me with the biggest smile. It melts me every time. Sometimes Charlie joins in the fun and climbs into your crib with you. He likes to bounce up and down to make you giggle.
You are really starting to enjoy your toys. You like rolling the many trucks we have back and forth, and you seem to gravitate toward the O-balls. You love the toy piano and you crawl over to it all the time to just bang away. You love the mobile above your crib - it's a nice little distraction to get some smiles out of you before bedtime. You also really love plastic water bottles just like your brother did. The first thing that motivated you to crawl was a water bottle.
You took one bath with Charlie earlier this month. It was big fun, but you were still a little too unsteady and you kept wanting to lunge forward. You've pretty much outgrown your baby tub so we'll make the leap to the big boy bath soon.
You are incredibly ticklish - especially your belly and your neck rolls. Charlie still loves to make you laugh, and will often say "baby laugh" in addition to "baby silly" when you giggle. You have the best belly laugh that almost makes you topple over in pure glee. It's one of my favorite sounds in the whole wide world.
Charlie is still your biggest helper. He likes to make sure you have your water cup and keeps your baby puffs coming. I think you still like Charlie more than just about anyone. Of course, now that you are more mobile and starting to have opinions about what you enjoy and want to do, Charlie is having to learn how to adapt. Sharing has become more of a challenge. Charlie isn't always thrilled that you can now access whatever you want - including his toys. We try to head this off by telling Charlie to make sure you always have a toy. He is starting to sort what is a baby toy and will often bring something over to you to replace his toy that he wants to reclaim. This system seems to work for now, but it's only a matter of time before I'm breaking up fights over toys.
Every once in a while, Charlie will take out his anger on you. Luckily, Charlie is not an angry kid so this is pretty rare. It never has anything to do with you either - there is no doubt Charlie LOVES his baby Leo. Sometimes you are just the nearest target. One time he took a swipe at your face with his hand because he was upset he had to come inside when he wanted to keep playing outside. You just looked up at him and smiled. We were almost dismayed because it would have been a more helpful teaching lesson if you had reacted with tears.
But these instances are rare. For the most part, you are your brother do great together. I catch Charlie "helping" you all the time, trying to make you laugh, wanting to hug you, and even "playing" with you, or at least playing right beside you. Charlie also loves pushing you on the swing. Sometimes when you are napping, Charlie will talk about waking you up because I think he misses his buddy.
Solids are still going great. You love to eat, and shovel anything put in front of you into your mouth. I literally don't think you've rejected anything yet. Of course, now that you can crawl, we have to be really careful what's within reach. You managed to find a grape under the buffet and popped it into your mouth. Luckily, I saw it happen and fished it out before any harm was done. You do a great job of chewing before you swallow. You love drinking water out of your sippy. All your eating is aided by the help of your 4(!!!) new teeth. All four top teeth came in at once. You took it like a champ, though, and barely registered any discomfort.
In addition to solids, you nurse about 5-6x/day. You are super efficient (and also easily distracted) so it only takes 5-10 minutes to get in a feeding. You did bite me a couple of times while teething, but I've learned to pay attention to your signals so I can avoid that from happening. Ouch!
There is really only one thing that makes you really mad - when you run out of food on your tray. Otherwise, you might get grumpy when you are done with your meal, when you bump your head or maybe when you get really tired. Otherwise, you are a pretty darn content baby.
We went apple picking and to a fall festival this month. You rode around in the wagon taking everything in, and did great despite taking both naps on the go that day. The only time you aren't super expressive is when we are outside. I think it's because you are too busy observing everything. We've been playing outside a lot enjoying the beautiful fall weather. You love to swing, and you've been great about taking your morning nap in the carrier or stroller.
You bring us so much joy every day. One of my favorite rituals is after your last feed, as I'm walking you to your room, we go find dada and say "give him your smile." Every single time, your whole face just lights up. Thank you for being such an easy-going, happy baby. And thank you for having the fattest, most kissable cheeks!
