8 Months

This was the month where The Little Mister became mobile.

The month began with him starting to pull up on low items (so not into an upright standing position) like the fireplace and LMS' doll cradle.

Little Miss Sunshine is determined to teach him how to walk and will hold his hands and help him walk around the room.

Halfway through the month he had a massive jump in his development.

During one week: He started full-on crawling (short distances) one day and the next day he cut his first tooth. A few days later he was pulling himself to a standing position in his crib (we had to lower his mattress quick!) and the next day his second tooth broke through.

you can just see a glimpse of a tooth :)

so pleased with himself!

The following week: At the beginning of the week he started pulling himself up to a standing position while standing on the couch, using the couch back cushions to hold onto and by the end of week he was pulling himself up on the couch while standing on the floor, and he was using the couch as support while he walked sideways to get what he wanted at the other end of the couch (aka cruising).

he likes to chew on his blanket (I talked about them last month)- I'm sure it feels good on his gums

Now he crawls/scoots/pulls himself around on the floor quite rapidly and is pulling himself up on anything he can: toys, furniture, baby gates, you name it. He seems quite fearless, so I'm expecting him to walk on his own sooner than LMS did. That was at 14 months, despite the fact that she was cruising long before she started crawling.

I caught him licking the baby gate. Gotta investigate everything. 

Maybe it's because it was smooth and cold?

TLM had his first plane ride this month. LMS had hers at one month old when we went to Mr M's great-grandmother's funeral. The first two flights were red eye flights and he slept through most of them. When we came back it was morning and he was awake for a lot more of it and wiggly. But he only fussed on one descent because he wasn't nursing/sucking his thumb/sleeping. Not bad statistics overall, and while those around us might not have appreciated his fussiness, at least he wasn't all-out screaming.

hanging out with Aunt J before the baptism started

We flew to Colorado for Little Miss Sunshine's baptism and he got to meet a lot of relatives, who all wanted to hold him because he's so stinking cute :) He's old enough to realize when people aren't mommy or daddy, so he showed some reluctance to allow others to hold him. He did warm up eventually and allow most people to hold him for a few minutes, though he didn't appreciate all the cousins who wanted to hold him and carry him around like a doll.

he did like swinging with cousin K

being smothered by LMS and cousins N and A

I say this every month, but TLM really is a happy baby, and such a cutie. He lights up when he sees any of us: he gets this great big smile on his face. He giggles at the funniest things- one morning I had the hiccups and he sat and giggled after every one. He likes funny voices. I was reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears to LMS, using different voices for the bears, and he giggled each time I changed voices. It's fun to see just what tickles his funny bone.

He's learned how to roll his tongue. Mr M and LMS both have long tongues and can touch their noses with them. I expect TLM to follow in their footsteps. Mr M can even fold the tip of his tongue backward (which looks kind of icky, but hey, it's not something I can do). TLM has started rolling his tongue and slurping his saliva, which is funny to listen to- you don't expect someone his age to be able to do that.

overexposed photo (still don't have the camera settings figured out yet) of him playing with his tongue

He's eating more and more solids. Most of the time I put his food on his tray and let him feed himself, which is what I did with LMS, too. For some reason he likes it when I spoon-feed him, which I find interesting. It's like it's too much effort for him to feed himself, or it's too messy- I'm not sure which one. I'll feed him a few bites then leave him to it and he'll usually be good to continue eating.

I don't regularly give him packaged foods- but I'm ok with the occasional applesauce mixed with apple juice (which is what's in the GoGo Squeezes), and he thinks he's such a big kid when he gets to hold the packet himself

He has a funny way of sitting up- first he'll get up on his hands and feet with his bum in the air, then he'll kind of roll his hips and plop on his bum.

getting in position to sit down...

He thinks he's so grown up:

He was excited when he found Nanny lying around the other day. 

If LMS likes Nanny so much, she must be something special, right?