Eight Months!

As of Saturday, Baby John is 2/3 of a year old! And he's really growing up.

He has been working hard on getting into and out of the seated position. It's so cute to see him prop himself up with his chubby little arm. He can totally sit up all on his own. Sometimes he'll tip over, but all those months of doing "baby crunches" have paid off, for he simply tucks his chin to his chest as he topples. Thus he doesn't bang his head!

Another recent development is that he's starting to pull himself up. I walked into his room one recent evening to find him kneeling (in his sleep sack) at the side of the crib, clutching the rails, and gumming the top rail. Extremely cute, but also a sign that we need to lower the mattress to its lowest setting now.

Here he's rocking...

Standing Up!

Speaking of the crib, John is a mobile sleeper. He usually rolls onto his tummy now to sleep (like, immediately. I put him in on his back, he rolls right over to his side or tummy). Often he'll bang his head on the rails scooting about in his sleep. And he's never where I left him or last saw him (thankful our monitor can pan!).

John hasn't started crawling with his belly up off the floor just yet. However, he creeps quite quickly, often relying on just his upper body and left leg for power. He can get into the all-fours crawling stance and rock back and forth (as if gaining momentum), but then he ends up with his belly back on the ground when he takes off.

Eating is going quite well. He usually eats fruit and cereal for breakfast, fruit and/or veggies for lunch, and the. Veggies and cereal for dinner. He's had apples, bananas, pears, avocado, mango, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini, and peas.
He's also tried teething biscuits with varying degrees of success (but always with pleasure).

Sleep is going well (knock on wood!). Normally he only nurses once or twice (or sometimes not at all!) in the night. We do have the occasional night of nursing in the chair all night (which may be as much from Mommy falling asleep there as from him wanting/needing it). The past few nights he's woken up around eleven but has gone back to sleep after Daddy soothes him. Nice! Napping is hit or miss at times because of being the second child and subject to James's schedule...

John continues to be super happy. He smiles at everybody! It's fun. His best buddy at church is the dad of three older kids (2nd, 4th, and 6th graders). John just loooooves him and practically leaps into his arms.

I've been trying to be consistent in signing to him, and Dan and I both think we've seen him sign for "milk"! He also seems to say "maMa!" when he wants me/milk. This morning I heard "dada" for the first time, but wasn't sure if it was in context or not.

Speaking of context, John's favorite books seem to be Dear Zoo; Snuggle Puppy; and Happy Birthday, Little Pookie. He tries to operate the flaps in Dear Zoo! And he smiles at Pookie and the puppy. So sweet! There are days, though, when he's too sleepy for books, and will listen to one, but then push it away and doesn't want any more.

Apart from listening to books, one of John's favorite pastimes is playing peekaboo. He laughs and laughs and seems to most enjoy playing it with James. He also enjoys time with peers. Recently he has had a few opportunities to hang out with the neighbor girls (who are just a few months older), and he smiles and laughs with them. He gets super excited. Very cute. At te playground, he's no longer just a passive observer-- he loves the swings!

John also likes to "dance" by bouncing enthusiastically to music. And making his own music-- much like his big brother, John likes playing the keyboard.

Perhaps his most favorite activity of all is bathing!! He splashes SO much and laughs and smiles. He also sits upright in his little tub instead of leaning back. Such a big boy!

No teeth yet, which is fine by me. I'm in no rush to say goodbye to that sweet gummy smile. John weighs over twenty pounds already (!), and seems tall. Footed PJs only are long enough if they're 12mo. or bigger. He's in mostly 9 mo. or 12 mo. clothes; 6 mo. clothes are all too little (and 9 mo pants are getting rather short). We'll be switching carseats soon for certain!

BREAKING NEWS: John just pulled himself to standing at the ottoman! Completely on his own!