Max - 8 Months Old

Whew! I must say this at every month's post, but really? Time flies...

Highlights ('cause, let's be frank, I no longer have time for much else):
• Eating solids
• Recognize your name when called
• Smiles "on cue" for the camera
• Celebrated first Christmas (and New Year!)
• Scoot/crawling more
• Moved up to a bath seat
• First yucky cold
• Pulling self up to standing position (OK, to be fair, that happened for the very first time ever, tonight!)

What can I say about your 8th month? I should have written this all down while it was happening, alas... life was worth living I s'pose.

We started giving you "solids". Well, let me clarify. I was eating a slice of cold ham leftover from Christmas dinner and you had this look in your eye. I broke off the SMALLEST PIECES I could physically cut with my finger nails... and fed them to you as you rocked with delight on your knees atop my bed. I watched your happiness and promptly fed you more. I then realized... maybe I shouldn't be doing this. You threw it all up not too much later. Lesson learned? Yes: You are not ready for ham but you are ready for solids. We bought you Gerber's Puffs within the week.
You were terrible with puffs at first - all kids are. You have the dexterity with your pincher-like grip... but where you lack is on the release. After you grab your puff, if it started to slide (in a drool path) toward the center of your first, it's all over. You didn't know how to open your hand to then lick it off your palm. Instead, you'd go back for another. I'd say, out of 10 puffs: 6 would be on the floor, 3 stuck inside the palm of your hand and 1 would make it in your mouth. And, even that 1 in your mouth wouldn't stay in your mouth for long. You'd suck in your lower lip thus spitting the puff out onto your chin.
Fast forward only 2 weeks later - you can get almost everything in your mouth (and quickly)! You are so good at this now, we've progressed to Gerber's Wheel Snacks, Gerber Veggie Stick Puffs, some corn and pineapple.... the corn and pineapple was a mess. Oh, how I loathe this stage of infant-into-toddler... learning to eat is so messy and you'll soon want more and more independence (case in point: you've started grabbing the spoon when daddy feeds you!).

You've had a heckuva time with pooping lately. I won't go too much into this topic but, boy-oh-boy... you spend many days constipated. Daddy and I try everything. You seemed like you were getting on a schedule and yet... we just can't predict when you're going to have a "not-so-successful bowel movement kind of day" since they happen so frequently but irregularly. Dad and I are hoping solid foods will help this out a wee bit.

We moved you up out of the baby bathtub! Baby tubs are so ridiculous considering the very spot I need to clean (your butt!) is what you are sitting on... well, laying down on. I dug Evie's old bath seat (it's a seat with an arm that anchors around the edge of the tub).

You had your first Christmas! Santa brought you a teddy bear (that's what Evie told Santa you wanted... funny, you haven't seemed to want that at all. I don't think Evie knows you very well at all). You didn't really open gifts. You became too hung up on eating the paper so we opened things for you. You seemed quite content with just taking it all in. Again, you enjoy chaos and hectic scenes so you were in your element on Christmas morning.
I did get one final afternoon of you wearing your Christmas sweater. You can actually see it in these photos, yippee! Just look at you all sprawled out on the floor after we cleaned up the holiday wrap. You self-entertain so well... it truly is one of your best qualities...



We sent Evie down to North Carolina with Pop-pop and Lala the day after Christmas. The day after that, the 27th, Daddy was going to drive down with you to join them for just a few nights. I would use the time "off" to take down the Christmas tree, stockings and other various holiday glee. The 27th was a rather fitfull day for you... but nightfall you were aggressive and fussy when held but would cry when put down. You wore my nerves thin. We knew it was your teeth and yet... its still really challenging to remain understanding when there's absolutely nothing you can do as a parent. Reasoning with you on why chewing that hard plastic toy will just make your gums hurt more doesn't work... nor does telling you to "sit still" while I apply this Baby Orajel. By 7 PM I was ready for you and daddy to leave. You slept the whole way there.
At 11PM daddy called to say you had arrived. He also noted you seemed to be sleeping in your crib with your eyes open. This worried me - I knew you were not asleep.
At 1AM your daddy called, quite stressed-out, that you would not sleep and cried endlessly if laid down. It was horrible. I couldn't help, daddy couldn't sleep, and you were suffering.
The next day, dad called to tell me that you fell asleep in his arms while we spoke on the phone but that you then awoke again when he tried to put you down. Finally, at 2:30AM, both exhausted, you rested in bed with dad as he lay atop the bed (cold with no covers!)next to you. By 6:30AM, you were up again.
The 28th was a day filled with everyone tired and taking turns caring for you. By nightfall, when dad put you down for the night... you screamed in protest. He swept you up, loaded up the car and called me to tell me he was driving home at 8:30PM. I emailed my office that I would not be in the next day and I went to bed at 9PM preparing for your arrival. At 11PM you showed up and went to bed... without a peep! You slept all night! We were both relieved and ready to get back to a state of normal. Whatever THAT is...
Those teeth? Yes, all 4 are successfully in.

You ended this month with a really yucky cold. It started a week after New Year's Eve and last about a week. You were stuffy and a slimy face from rubbing your nose. You cheeks grew bright red with chaffing and your disposition was a little less happy. You remained, overall, a rather OK sick kid. We didn't take you to the doctor and gave you a few shots of Motrin. I'd wake up through the night helping you locate your pacifier. Overall, you just appeared more yucky than I think you truly felt. It didn't turn into a hacking cough and no one else caught it - for that, I am grateful!


You flap your arms wildly when you are delighted.

This past month seems to be one filled with many more firsts (solids, starting to scoot/crawl, confidentially sitting up for longer stretches of time, recognizing your name) and one where you seem to have thinned out & grew taller.
I predict your ninth will leave us:
1. questioning how much longer we can keep you in your car carrier (it's so amazing how you really do not mind being in it when most kids fuss and fight it. But the straps? They no longer fit over your shoulders at all.)
2. a month where you eat more (especially with being "on the go!" crawling)
3. you'll have Evie in tears (when you start changing the rules regarding where she keeps her tiny toys within your grasp)
4. you'll start cruising
5. you'll move into stage 3 foods (and maybe completely away from puree's?).
Things are happening faster with you, Max. It's both great (I remember watching and desperately waiting for Evie to hit these milestones that you see to fly through without me even noticing) and sad (I saw the cutest baby boy outfit the other day in a size you can no longer wear). You really are one super sweet baby boy, Max. I love watching how different you are from you sister. It's so neat to see how different, and yet very complimentary, your two personalities are.