8 months old

Are you kidding me?! I mean...c'mon! This baby is growing into a kid right before my eyes! I can't take it anymore.

He definitely has a mind of his own and apparently is not a fan of hats anymore. This devastates me :(

This past month has brought some changes. Some are fun and some are NOT so fun.

-Brady learned to scoot and is constantly on the move. He loves to scoot towards cords, low level drawers (which he can pull open), and Walle. Brady has ALWAYS loved Walle and gets the hugest grin when Walle enters the room, but he's allergic to him and turns all red and rashy after touching him. I try to keep them apart, but now that Brady is mobile, the fight is MUCH more difficult. He's not lifting up on his hands and knees at all, so I don't know that actual crawling is coming yet, but he seems to like his newfound freedom with the scoot.

- He wiggles like crazy!! I mean this kid will not sit still. If he's in your lap, he wants to face out. Then you face him out and he wants to turn and face you. Then he wants to stand. Then he wants to face out again. It's hard to keep up with him, especially at church.

- He outgrew his bath seat, so he sits in the tub like a big boy now. He's always loved baths, but I think he loves them EVEN MORE now that he can sit up and splash. I sit on the edge of the tub with my feet in when I bathe him and my pants or short are always soaked from his splashing. The tub is seriously his happy place.

- He learned to yell. He's always been a screamer, but it used to be fun. You could tell he enjoyed hearing his voice and he just screamed to be noisy. This month he's learned to yell and he does it with an ATTITUDE . It's like a combination of a yell and a whine and he does it when he wants to be played with, when he wants to eat, when you're not feeding him fast enough, when he wants to be picked up, when he's tired, or when he's just plain crabby. So pretty much ALL DAY. It's pretty frustrating.

- He's feeding himself more. He's been feeding himself puffs and yogurt bites for a few months, but this month I started giving him real food to feed himself with. He gets really frustrated when eating baby food lately. He loves the food but he yells and cries the entire time he's eating. I used to think it was because I wasn't feeding him fast enough, but I've since realized that he just wants more independence. Last week I went in search of some soft foods that a toothless baby can feed himself and settled on baked sweet potato and butternut squash chunks, as well as blueberries. We've also done peas and avocado. I need to come up with some more options though, so if you have any ideas, let me know.He's SO much happier feeding himself, but it sure is MESSY.

- Along with feeding himself, he's also gotten his first sippy cup. He's not crazy about it, but hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon. I'm just putting water in there because I don't think he needs sugary juice drinks, so that may be why he's not so into it. Water isn't a very exciting flavor.

- He's learning new tricks all the time. I put him to bed and he wakes up doing something new. LITERALLY. Today as he was supposed to be sleeping, I heard a "bang" come from his room and couldn't figure out what it could be. I went in to find that he had pulled himself up for the first time EVER and was playing with his cd player. I've since lowered his mattress, moved that shelving unit and taken the picture down. This kid is TROUBLE.

- Sleeping is still very sporadic. Some nights he'll sleep all night and others he'll wake up 2-3 times and sometimes won't go back to sleep for a few hours for no apparent reason. He's not fussy, he's just AWAKE. THOSE are hard nights, especially when I know he's capable of sleeping all night. 

- He's still got no teeth and his eyes are still as blue as ever. I'd say that's the thing people comment on the most. I usually wear him facing out in the Bjorn and everyone can see his cute face and they all comment on his eyes or his smile. He's such a flirt and is ALWAYS smiling at people when he's in the Bjorn. Today at the car wash a woman said: "his smile is infectious". 

I think so :)

This is the smile he shot Grandma N. as she got home from work today. 

I sure love my 8 month old.