Eight Month Update

Disclaimer:  Please remember I'm treating these posts as a stand-in for the traditional baby books... sorry for the boring details!

I started this post over a month ago... sad right? Guess I should start it fresh...

In seven days, little man will be nine months... W.H.E.R.E. does the time go??

Tooth update: five little chicklettes - top two middle and three bottom center... four in seven months and the fifth one came in two weeks ago. And by the amount of teething signs this week, there will be more very shortly.

Moving:  When I started this post, AJ was ready to crawl - up on all fours, swaying, going from a lying down position to sitting on his own...  milestones I was excited about. ;)  But on February 9th - it clicked.  I was looking after him in the church nursery during our Thursday night ESL class, and he was exhausted and clingy... I was across the room, and I guess he just wanted close, because up and over he came! Crying/whining as he speedily crawled. Crying to my cheers... haha

On the move...

He's much happier about it now... and loves to get under my feet no matter where I am in the room. He has yet to venture too far away for exploration, but that day will come soon enough. It's amazing how quickly things progress once the crawling kicks in. He's pulling himself up all over the place as if he's been doing it his whole life.

One of his favorite past-times is playing with clothes...

Is this a hint I should fold more frequently??

... his socks are a favourite!  Who needs toys?!

Most days AJ is a pretty chatty kid. Especially at church. Always at church. At full volume. He doesn't really have a gradual volume - just silence... to full on noise that can't be ignored. Happy! But loud. I love hearing all the new sounds he can make. I especially love hearing "mamamama"... whether or not he knows what he's saying has yet to be decided. ;)

At 7 months - pre-crawling days... and this video really doesn't show the cute gibberish - just the volume

Eating:  When we first started AJ on solids, I thought he was going to be a great eater. Unfortunately it seems he's more of a moody eater. Some days it goes great, others - meh. Food? Who needs real food? YOU DO AJ! :) He's more into eating with his hands now instead of allowing me to spoon feed him... it keeps him busy longer, but pretty sure he's getting less IN his mouth. He will eat pieces of pasta, rice, chicken, apple, tomato, etc... but his favourite is the Gerber Puffs... loves the peach ones. Maybe THAT'S why his nose is orange?? (See pictures - can't figure out why his nose and cheeks are leaning toward the orange colour... certainly *not* because of an overabundance of carrots unfortunately)


AJ loves water... he would go nuts seeing us drink a glass of water without sharing, but now that he can hold his own sippy-cup, he's happy with that.

(sorry - my video clips are a bit long!)

Is it a bad thing that the child has figured out exactly what to do with a coffee mug?

Sleeping: Well, we won't really even go there. Sleeping habits (night and napping) plummeted downhill after Christmas. I'm not sure if it was the time-change, new places (Vancouver and then Grand Bend), and/or just a 6-month twist in habits. January was a bit of a nightmare for naps - I gave into his crying most days and took drives for my sanity and AJ's sleeping health. But things have improved quite a bit now, and while not perfectly scheduled (ha.), naps are in his crib unless we are out for other reasons. Nights are getting there... we had to work through a nasty cold in February and then all those teeth coming through.

Growth:  The constant growing has slowed down a bit right now (thankfully), and he's been in the same size clothes for a couple months now: 9-12 months or 12 months  AJ's legs, which seemed shorter in proportion, have now seemed to have caught up to the rest of his body. His weight is holding steady at 20-21 lbs. Not sure his height at the moment.

Random:

AJ has no fear of dogs... he loved this beautiful Golden Retriever he met at a friend's place.

He went for his first swing in February (at 7 months)! He wasn't quite sure what to think, but that may have been a result of the frigid temperatures that his mom dragged him out in!

Uncle Lucas came to visit on his spring break - how fun!! :)

AJ loves books... and who better to enjoy them with than Grammie?

The whole tongue out thing had slowed down for awhile... then Grammie came to visit and out it came again! It really seemed like he remembered she was the one to laugh hysterically at it in the past...

Finally - we've gone to the zoo quite a few times during the day, but AJ thought it was a lot more fun when Daddy came along on a Saturday! :)