Hi sweetie! You’re now 8 months and doing fantastically! You’ve lost a tiny bit of weight compared to last month, but it’s probably because you’ve also been a little sick. You had your first cold, but you got through it like a trooper! At first whenever you’d cough or sneeze, you would smile or giggle because it was oh, so amusing! You got tired of that pretty quickly, though. We didn’t go to the doctor because you seemed to be doing really well with everything and had a great attitude all the way through. Daddy and I were sick at the same time, so it made the whole week a little stressful. At least that’s over with now!

Your friends Josh and Aime are visiting their grandparents in Texas right now, so you haven’t seen them much this month. You did have a nice visit with Samantha from church and across the street. I babysat her for a few hours and you two had fun playing together! She is 6 months older than you and it was fun to spend time with her and see about where you’ll be in the near future. We also met a lady who has a son, James, who is 2 weeks younger than you. We got together to play at his house and at the playground and you guys were too cute playing side by side!

You’ve been eating solid foods for a while now, but I’ve mostly looked at it at exploring new tastes and sensations. Now we’re trying to have more regular meals for you. Mealtime was a huge mess and was a little frustrating for me for a bit. When I used baby food you would get it everywhere, grab it with your hands, wipe your ears, play with your hair, and we’d have to rush off to the bathtub after every meal! I found that if I tuck your hands under your high chair tray, you keep them down in your lap and I can spoon feed you without you rubbing it all over your body. It may sound mean, but you don’t appear to mind having your arms pinned at all and mealtime goes much more smoothly. I’m trying to move away from the liquid baby foods more and have you feed yourself little bits of things. You have tried all sorts of new foods recently, most of which were a success! You love baked carrots and cauliflower with nutmeg and gobble them all down very quickly. You’ve had egg yolk and also yogurt, both of which you aren’t quite so sure about. Yesterday you had some cottage cheese with mango pieces that you loved! Last night for dinner you had some acorn squash pieces and also baked chicken and brown rice. You were pretty unsure about the chicken, so I ground it up in some sweet potato baby food (which you love!) You still love to munch on your sweet potato puffs – your favorite food! Daddy and I are lining up puffs along the clean carpet to try to encourage you to crawl. You will lean and reach as far as you possibly can then flop to your stomach and stretch even farther!

Speaking of crawling, you did crawl for the first time a couple of weeks ago! I was sitting in a chair and there were some toys and your books by my feet and you flopped from a sitting position and crawled on your hands and knees for about a foot and then creeped on your tummy for another foot to reach the book. Daddy and I were so excited that you were getting around on your own, but that was the last time we’ve seen you do that! There’s no rush, sweetie, but it will be fun when you’re traveling around the room on your own!

We haven’t done a whole lot that is too exciting. You love going to stores and looking at all the neat little things, so we do go shopping together. We’ve been out for a little hiking and walks around the base. We’re still having a great time at home, playing, reading, Skyping with grandparents, and snuggling together. Daddy and I love you very much and are looking forward to another wonderful month!

Love,
Mommy