8 Months

So, what's Annabelle like at 8 months?

She has turned into a rock star crawler.  If we leave her alone in a room (oops, it happens) she just comes along to catch up.  But sometimes she gets lost and ends up in the bathroom.  Doesn't bother her, she has a great time exploring all of the places that we have never taken her in this house (like the tile entryway).  She is also a much stronger stander now and loves to spend time at the activity table.  She has not figured out how to move her feet while standing, so cruising is still a ways off.  She is trying to pull up, but just can't get it.

Her brother finds her far more interesting now that she is mobile.  He is engaging her more in playtime, and has even insisted that I couldn't take her to do something yet because he was going to play with her for a minute.  He also finds her to be more annoying.  "Annabelle, no!  That's MY toy!"  Sometimes they laugh together in the back seat of the car, and that is pretty awesome.

She is developing a few of her consonant sounds: baba, aaba, mmmm and today when Chris walked in from work, "Dada."  Its seemed intentional, but we'll see if it sticks.  She gets loud whenever there is a loud appliance on like the vacuum or blow dryer.

She gets very very clingy when she is tired.  On school and church days she was to wait until after drop-off or until we get to church for her morning nap and sometimes that is just too long!  She wants nothing more to be held, which is hard when I'm trying to get us all out the door.  Enter the Ergo Carrier.  She hated it before, but we are becoming fast friends.

She is loving her solid foods.  Miss independent will only eat off of the spoon if she is really hungry or looooves what is being served (pears and peaches, anyone?).  She eats about 3 ounces of puree and some finger foods at lunch and more at dinner.  Tonight he ate an entire scrambled egg, 3 ounces of pureed fruit, a graham cracker, half a slice of cheese and some puffs.  She loves scrambled eggs, cottage cheese with fruit, any pureed fruit, acorn squash and feeding herself.  She really needs to develop a better pincer grasp to make self-feeding more efficient!  But she loves cut up strawberries, cantaloupe, steamed green beans, crackers.  I'm trying to figure out the right approach with the veggies for finger foods - it would help if she had some teeth!

Nursing is her happy place.  She has taken so well to the solids that she isn't super hungry for her milk in the afternoon/evening, but she still likes to hang out with Mommy.  She gets most of our milk at the first two feedings of the day (we're still doing 5, the last three very short), and for this reason I'm not giving her breakfast in the high chair yet.  Sometimes she like to just hang out in my arms for several minutes after we're done.  Could it be - do I have a child who will cuddle?

Her warm little room is her other happy place.  We broke out the space heater last week when the temps dipped here for the first time and her room is cozy and toasty.  She is napping longer and sleeping later in the morning.  So for now she is napping 1.5 hours in the morning (she'd go longer, but that just doesn't fit into our family schedule) and 2-3 hours in the afternoon (again, depending on the day's schedule).  She sleeps about 11-11.5 hours at night, and never wakes up - or at least never wakes us up.  She only takes a paci in the crib now, but thankfully that's the only place she seems to need it.

When I took her in for her flu shot booster she weighed 14 lbs 7 oz.  She wears size 2 diapers, but she isn't swimming in size threes.  She can wear 6, 9 or 12 month clothes depending on brand and style.  She wore shoes for the first time the other day, and they are a size 2 but have plenty of room. 

She is becoming more and more her own person and it is fun to watch.

And finally, here's her list!
Likes:
-Fruit
-Sam
-Getting around on her own
-Being warm and cozy
-Self-Feeding

Dislikes:
-Not having something to chew on
-Having toys stolen from her