Today you are eight months old. We are in prime Peak of the Baby season, and it is glorious.
This month it feels like rather than any major breakthroughs, you've been working on building upon the skills you already have. You sit endlessly by now, and are happiest like that, playing. You've spent a lot of time this past month working on getting up on all fours--you can get up on your knees, though you don't usually hold the position for long, and you also do a lot of planking and downward dog. It seems like progress toward crawling, though I think that may still be a ways away. You're also starting to be very interested in standing, and can hold yourself up for quite some time if we put your hands on the furniture.
This month you've expanded your communication skills, too. You babble a lot and have started copying a bunch of our noises. You vocalize instead of crying frequently when you're upset, and if I didn't know better I might think you're saying the word "more"--every time you run out of food at a meal you wave your arms and repeat "meh, meh" until we give you more food. It's very consistent, but you also seem fond of that sound in general so unless I see more conclusive evidence, for now I'm chalking it up to a coincidence. You also know your name, and consistently respond to it. You're very interested in clapping, and get a huge smile on your face when we ask you to do it, and you've even managed to do it on request a few times, though not consistently.
You are as into toys as your brother was, and play with them constantly. You love to wave them around and bang them on the floor, and have recently started banging toys against one another to play. Your fine motor skills continue to be strong, and you're surprisingly good at picking up little things and maneuvering them how you want. You also continue to love peekaboo. You are really into going out and seeing new places, and will get fussy if we keep you cooped up at home for too long. This month has been the first month of summer vacation, so you've been spending many days at the pool with your brother, which you love--you splash and kick and don't even seem to mind when you get water in your face.
You remain very social, giving us huge smiles and squeals when you see us. You love other babies and mirrors, and light up with a giant smile whenever we take you near a mirror you know is coming, and reach out to pat your reflection as soon as we bring you close enough. You've also developed separation anxiety this month, and will cry if we hand you to anyone you don't know, though it passes fairly quickly after some time together.
You continue to love eating, and we still have not found a single food you don't like. You hoover up whatever we give you, most often items from our own meal, and squawk for more. You've also upped your formula consumption this month, to about 35 ounces a day, sometimes creeping up toward 40. You weigh just under 22 pounds, which puts you at the 97th percentile for weight, and I think you're about 29.5" long, which keeps your height off the charts. You're just starting to move into size 12-18 month clothes. You still have two teeth, the bottom middles, and I suspect one of the top teeth might make an appearance sometime in the next few weeks.
Your relationship with your brother remains the sweetest thing I've ever seen. You two just love each other so much, and it's so incredible to watch. You play together so much, and you're so interested in each other. There's a lot of hugging and even some roughhousing, which you don't seem to mind at all. Whenever Callum is in the room, you just light up, and gaze at him adoringly with a huge smile on your face. He can do no wrong in your eyes, and sometimes watching the two of you together, I get the briefest glimpse of the team you will become, and it's just the best thing ever.
You also continue to sleep great. You are still in your routine of sleeping about 11 hours, sometimes 12, straight at night, from about 8:30 to 7:30 or 8 most days, with one nap, usually 2-3 hours long, during the day. You ruptured your eardrum twice this month--the first time it was because of an ear infection we didn't know you had, and the second time was bad luck due to flying not long after the first rupture healed. You seem to have a high tolerance for pain--ruptured eardrums are supposed to be incredibly painful but both times you continued sleeping fine and acting normal, and we would never have known anything was wrong if we hadn't noticed the drainage from your ear. Your eyes are still blue, and your pediatrician commented that she thinks they may stay that way, as if anything, they seem to be getting lighter.
You remain the most delightful, cheerful, adorable little baby. You are just so chubby and happy and I just want to squeeze you and eat you right up because you are so deliciously amazing. We all feel the same way about you--you are just the perfect addition to our family, and you make everything just right.
Love,
Mama
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