Anyway, where is Nicholas at 8 months? In no particular order, here are some random snapshots of where the little guy is these days:
- Walking is his absolute favorite thing to do. No, he doesn't walk on his own (although he has gotten brave enough to hold just one adult hand while he reaches out for something he wants), but all he ever wants to do is find a way to grab your fingers. At that point he pulls himself to standing and takes off. And good luck to the person who tries to tell him they don't want to follow him around the apartment hunched over or on their knees. His favorite destination? The bathroom. He goes over to the tub to try to convince you to let him take a bath. Failing that, trips into our bedroom to see if the desktop has the screensaver of pictures going is a good second choice. And if neither of those options works out for him, he'll just take you in laps . . . all day.
- He has six teeth and a very silly looking grin. He has started to figure out chewing. So far we only have him eating puffs (sort of like cheerios, but they dissolve to prevent choking) and pieces of banana, but he has gotten so good at chewing those in the past couple days that I think it is safe to try him on some more of the softer table foods. Unfortunately he hasn't yet figured out the difference between food and his teeth and sometimes grinds his teeth against each other. Just the sound hurts.
- He finally can be trusted to sit on his own. He was a pretty good sitter months ago, but then plateaued at the point where he could sit on his own but would throw himself backwards often enough that you couldn't leave him alone without a pillow behind him. It took him something like 3 months to get over that last tiny step.
- He loves looking at pictures. They can be printed photographs or digital images on the computer. They can be of really anyone, although his favorites are ones of me, Joe, and himself. He smiles and laughs like he is seeing old friends. Adorable.
- Peek-a-boo and reading (okay, turning pages in books) are his other two favorite activities right now. I think in part because both are interactive--he gets to reach out and move something and change what he sees. Ah, the power.
- Still no sign of crawling. Although he can now get to an object that is 5 or 6 inches out of reach through some whole body wriggling maneuvers that surpass explanation. (Joe referred to it today as swimming across the floor.) But if something he wants is further away than that, he writes it off and moves on to something else. Or pivots himself and rolls to cover the distance.
- Nicholas has been stubborn and strong-willed basically since birth, but it comes through even more clearly now that he has more control over his body. He wriggles down when he doesn't want to be held or be in your lap. He pulls your hands off of him so that he can hold your fingers to walk. He absolutely refuses to bend when he doesn't want to sit. He very clearly dictates where he wants to walk and gets angry when you try to direct his path.
- Pulling games and DVDs off the bookcases is great fun. We try not to let him, but what can I say--sometimes it is worth the mess to have a half hour of content play. I know--bad Mommy.
- He doesn't do many of the parlor tricks lots of babies around his age do. My random theory of the day is that this is because he refuses to have interactive play time with us. If we try to interact with him during playtime he decides that means he needs to take our hands and walk. For the most part we have to ignore him for him to be willing to sit and play. Unless Joe is playing peek-a-boo, which Nicholas considers an acceptable alternative to walking. That is probably one of the random theories our pediatrician would laugh at, but I like it much better than one that assumes he isn't as smart.
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| From 2010 January |
How was that for off the top of my head? Random and rambling enough for you?
Great updates!
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