Eight Months Old

Your seventh month has been such a fun one! You are now 8 months old which just suddenly seems too close to being a year old. I wish time would slow down a tiny bit. Do I say that every month? I'm trying to soak up every stage but they seem to be flying by. Here's how your seventh month went...
Sleep: You have put yourself on a pretty strict nighttime schedule. You completely melt down if we try and keep you up later than 6:30 pm. You wake up pretty consistently at around 6 am. The few times I tried to stretch it and keep you up until 7:30, you retaliated by waking up at 5 am instead. A 6:30 bedtime makes it challenging because daddy doesn't even get home until 5:30. If we're going to go out to eat, we have to make it snappy.
Loving: You are loving bath time! You can happily sit in it for 30 minutes babbling and splashing. The cup I use to rinse your hair is your favorite toy, and the only thing you want to play with in the bath.

Food: You are still nursing every 3 hours or so. You eat solid food twice a day. Usually lunch and dinner, and then some puffs in between :-) You've now had green beans, peas, squash, carrots, apples, pumpkin, spinach, pear, bananas, peaches, and avocado. Pureed of course :-) We've also put grapes, melons and plums in your silicone mesh feeder.
New: You are so fast in your walker! You know how to navigate the whole house now, and chasing Lucy is your new favorite pastime. You can back up and turn around, and when you really get going you put your hands out at your sides and you look like a little airplane ready to take off. You also continually bash into my ankles when I'm trying to cook dinner. You've started pulling on my legs or dress. 

You waved hi for the first time! To a lady in the grocery store, go figure. She came up to you and waved and I turned to look at you and you were doing it back. I squealed out loud, and proceeded to wave to you in every aisle just to watch you wave back at me. It is amazing how fast you pick up on things. 

The past few weeks you have figured out how to pick up your puffs and put them in your mouth. You starting trying to do this a couple of months ago, but now you're a pro. If I put 4 or 5 of them down on your tray you want to hold them all, and shovel them all in your mouth. 

It's been so fun watching you recognize words. If I ask you, "Where's doggy Lulu?" Your head darts around until you find Lucy and then you smile very pleased with yourself. I can also sing the baby signing time song, and you speed in your walker over to the tv and wait for it to come on. We usually watch this once a day when I'm trying to make dinner and you're getting tired and starting to meltdown. 
A couple of days before you turned 8 months old you crawled for the first time! We were face-timing with Gigi and Pops (Brandon's parents) and you started crawling towards the phone. You can get your knees under, and then you kind of lunge forward. You go back and forth between this, and dragging yourself forward with your arms. You have to take a few breaks in between to rest your heavy head, hehe. The best "bait" is my phone or a remote control. How cute is the picture above of you face-timing with gigi? So excited to recognize people on the phone!

Avery-
You really are my little buddy. I love spending my days with you.
Xo.