8 months

When I sat down to write this post, I thought I really didn't have much to say. In one hour when you arrive at the end, you can leave a comment telling me how wrong I was.

physical
A couple weeks ago at work I weighed Jonathan in at 19lbs... next official check up is at 9 months, so we will probably be looking at 20+ lbs by then! This month brought with it two more teeth--and thus some cute teethy smiles. As these new teeth continue to come in, we have noticed a rather adorable and fairly large gap between them! Haha, we think that is the source of his new "sss" sound as he sends air through that space. We still are trying to figure out what color his hair is. I think it is a light brown/blonde, but Jon sees some red in it. Time will tell...

What color do you think?

Can you see those teeth?

eating
Still plugging along at introducing baby foods to this non-interested baby. He'll eat them, but only because we don't give him a choice. I gave him some of my avocado today--fun to give him some "people food," and he actually really liked it. He really gets excited when he can eat things by himself, like the puffs and cookies. He makes a ridiculous mess from this 1 inch by 1 inch square cookie, but it's worth the fun. I try to give him some juice or water during his "meal times" (essential to, uh, keep things "moving" in the midst of all these solids), but he'd much rather just chew on the cup (he doesn't get how sippy cups work so I'm just giving him sips from a regular cup for now). We pretty much do some food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and still do 6ish nursing times throughout the day/night. My milk supply has been keeping up--I was a little worried there for a bit, but I think we're good. We still think J is sensitive to too much dairy in my diet. It's a total bummer because all I want to eat are milk and cheese, but it's worth it to not have him puking all over me and having an upset tummy. Not sure if we will be grown out of this sensitivity when it's time to do whole milk. Yikes. I don't even want to think about that.

Hey sweet cheeks.
This picture has nothing to do with eating, unless you correlate his big cheeks with the amount of food he consumes. 

sleep
Not much new to report here. Still two naps per day, at 9am and 1pm. Nights are still the same, going to bed between 6:45 and 7pm, and waking between 6 and 7am. Usually there is one or two feedings through the night. The other night he slept 11 hours, with me having to go in and feed him while he dozed!

He is so adorable when he first wakes up, but the flash was so darn bright
so all I kept getting were hilarious squinty faces.

development
(long section!)
This child certainly is not lacking in verbal skills. He talks all the time. Right at this moment he is making what sounds like a J sound combined with a D sound... over and over and over. We can actually see him LEARNING how to make sounds. He watches our lips and tries to imitate what he sees. It is so cool to watch. And then hilarious to hear the learned sound on repeat and high volume all throughout the day. (Right now I am trying to read this post to Jon but he can hardly hear it because Jonathan is "jjjjjj"ing at full volume).

We are trying to teach him signs... but progress is slow. Mostly because Jon and I are fairly awful at being consistent. There is one "sign" that Jonathan has made that could easily be interpreted as "milk," "eat," or "I like making funny sounds with my lips." Since in response to this sign I have equally nursed him, fed him, and made funny noises back to him, the sign now probably means: "I'm up for whatever. Just surprise me." Today he "signed" that he wanted milk by sticking his head into my boobs. I interpreted that one correctly.

No indications that crawling is on our horizons. But he is very adept at maneuvering to get what he wants while laying on his back or while sitting upright. He's also getting the pincer grasp down as he's learning to pick up foods or other small objects. He often picks up foods with his left hand which is making us wonder... We'll see. He's gotten a LOT better at the hand-mouth coordination. And it is so fun to watch him play by himself, to see what he picks up, how long he wants it, where he puts it when he's done, how he switches hands so he can hold two things at once. That little mind is always working!

Reeeeeeaching over to get his truck.

He's starting to develop object permanence, as evidenced by his daily break-down when he is ready for mommy to get home. He's not getting the peekaboo concept, though, and he doesn't look for a toy when I cover it with a blanket. He just wants to play with the blanket. But one more evidence of object permanence/cause and effect is surfacing in the last 24 hours (see picture below).

Yep, that's right. The game has begun. The watch-Max-fall-off-the-highchair-and-then-stare-at-him-until-someone-picks-him-up-for-me-so-I-can-do-it-again game. 

personality
This month we have noticed a difference in how Jonathan acts around each of us. In general he is more playful and rough with Jon, sometimes even making growling sounds when they play. It is so cute to see them together. And he is definitely more cuddly with me, and wants me when he is upset. He's kind of a snob about it sometimes. Like if Jon is holding him when he's upset, I'll take him and he will stop crying, while looking at Jon like "See Daddy, I just needed Mom. Duh." I have also noticed, especially in the past few days, that he becoming more energetic, adventurous, curious, and just in general, more "boy." He shows us when he's excited by bouncing up and down. He shows us that he's sick of us when he squirms out of our laps or head-butts us. He shows us that he loves us when he gives us "hugs" or smiles at us through tears or tiredness.

Looking mischievous

mama time
You probably get tired of hearing me say this every month, but I love being Jonathan's mom more every day. My friend posted about being a "boy mom," and so much of what she said rings true for me. (Sorry, E, that I haven't told you I really liked that post!) I feel totally like a boy mom. I love having a little boy. Today we got to cuddle a lot as he napped on my chest after he nursed. It was such a great time for me to soak him up. He is so sweet and wild and cuddly and loud and messy and lovable. I just can't get over him, and I tell him about 50 times per day how much I love him. (And I probably do the "I love you" sign about once a week. He will totally have that one down.)

I have some more mama-reflections that I've been journaling about, but somehow they seem more fit for a separate post. So, I'll leave it at that. Happy 8 months to my favorite little buddy!

I know this is a bad-quality picture, but doesn't Jonathan look so much like his daddy here???  I love it!