Belated 8 Months

She actually turned eight months on May 26, but we had company in town and then I just became too lazy to do the post. But I couldn't resist writing about her, so here we go:

A few things about her at this age:

She's become a little scooter! We have hardwood floors, and she's somehow managed to learn how to roll/scoot/propel herself around. She's not going great distances yet, but it's enough to freak me out if I look up and she's halfway across the room.

She is incredibly grabby. Nothing is sacred, and we've had a few mishaps while we adjust to this new stage of moving everything out of her reach. Her favorite things are our glasses. She loves just ripping those right off our faces!

She's incredibly flexible. With time, I mean. I belly ache about her divaness all the time, but she hardly threw any fuss when my in-laws were in town for Memorial Day weekend, and we dragged her all around town. I guess it just took having an outsider come in for me to realize that she's actually an easy going baby. She can throw a tantrum, but I always made it out to be worse in my mind than it actually was.

Probably part of her ability to be flexible is that we have no schedule. I have tried to get her on a set schedule, but she wasn't having any of it. Our day is based on when she gets up. Sometimes it's 6:30am and sometimes it's 8am. So I adjust her naps and eating times accordingly. Typically she's ready for her first nap about an hour and a half after waking up. Then she eats, plays then is ready for her second nap. Do the same routine over again, and she's up from her third and final nap around 3, and she's up for the rest of the afternoon. She goes to bed at 6pm. Early! Maybe it's not what the experts suggest, but this schedule works for us. She's happy and growing, and really, what more could I ask for?

She is finally on board with her baby food! I feed her two meals a day: oatmeal mixed with fruit in the morning, and rice mixed with veggies for dinner. I've tried to get her to eat some big people food a few times, but the attempts haven't gone well. First, I tried Jello and she held it in her mouth for awhile, grimaced and spit it back out. Another time I gave her a bit of mashed potatoes, and she actually shuddered. It was a little funny, but at the same time.. she doesn't like mashed potatoes?! She doesn't like puffs, but she does like to gnaw on a graham cracker. I have to sit with her when she does, since she hasn't quite grasped the concept of chewing (or gumming, in her case). Like everything we do with her, it's slow going but she'll catch on eventually.

She's incredibly ticklish. I love it! I try not to torture her, but she just has the best giggle and belly laugh when I tickle her, and sometimes it's hard to resist. She's still a tough sell when trying to get her to laugh, but she has her favorite things we do that are fail safe. Her laugh makes us so happy! A little babies laugh has got to be one of the best sounds ever.

She's fitting into her nine month clothes now, so she's pretty caught up that way. I can't wait for her nine month appt to find out how much she has grown. I feel like she's a completely different baby than when we moved here. She's turned into such a chunk and we are obsessed with kissing her cheeks and squeezing her chunky thighs. Some of our favorite nick names for her are chunky monkey and sweet cheeks. She actually answers to sweet cheeks!

One more thing: this girl loves to go shopping! She is happiest when she is sitting in the cart wandering around a store. She can actually sit up in the cart now, and she enjoys it even more. Better range of vision, I guess. ;-) I can tell when we've spent too much time at home, because she starts getting really fussy and stir crazy. Just a quick trip to walk around Target, and my sweet happy baby is back again!