Eight Months

Dear Lachlan,

You're only 4 months shy of being one year. This time last year I was really starting to show with you. It is a bittersweet thing as you get older and wiser.

This month has been quite the month! Not too long after turning 7 months, you mastered your sitting skills and you mastered your mobility in what we will refer to "doing the worm" - not quite a crawl, not quite an army crawl. A belly flop, perhaps? Either way, no matter what it is, it is enough to get you from point A to B and quickly!

Just within the last few days you've turned your "worm" crawl into a half crawl. Sometimes you do a normal crawl, other times you do the worm. I think when you're really excited to get from point A to B you forget the real crawl and resort to belly flops across the floor!

Another really exciting thing is that you learned to pull yourself to standing.. on everything. It doesn't matter what it is, a sweater hanging off the couch, the corner of the entertainment center, the side of the bathtub, my leg, your toys, the pole of your jumparoo.. doesn't matter.. if it holds you (or you think it will), you pull yourself up! You're to the point now where you remove one hand while standing and try to bend down to pick up toys off the ground. You were successful once today but I think that is the only time you've been successful in doing so. Once standing, if your legs are too far apart or too far from whatever is holding you up, you readjust your footing and walk in. A couple times you've made a few steps while holding on to the couch or the side of your crib. Next up is walking, eh? I don't think that I am ready yet :)

You're no longer gagging while eating (for the most part, anyway) and can move food around in your mouth with your tongue so that you don't gag. You must have my gag reflex because I am an awful gagger as well! You absolutely love Cheerios and also have an interest in this little yogurt bites as well. You still love the very basic baby cereal and prefer that for breakfast. We've started giving you jarred baby food (I know, I know), but I think it was a choose my battle thing and I was losing by having you hate everything that I made. You rarely turn away any food from the jar. I figure the food we give you is organic and the only ingredients in the food other than food and water is Vitamin C, so I can deal. :) I also realize that sooner than later, you'll be in Kindergarten and receiving a bunch of crap for lunch anyway.. I can't keep you from all the "bad" things in life.

You love laughing and are just the happiest little thing. You have a fake laugh and a real laugh. If we fake laugh at you, you fake laugh back. We play peek-a-boo (with you sometimes pulling the blanket off and on your own face - so smart!) and you love that. You also love row row row your boat and when Sammy licks you. You still love the animals, and still, more than they love you! I think Sammy is your favorite - you just think he is SO funny and now that he got a haircut, he likes you a little more as you cannot pull his hair.

Your sleeping has been pretty good for the most part. Bedtime is between 7 and 8 and you usually wake up between 5 and 6:30. It seems like if you wake up before 5:45, youll go back to sleep, but if you wake after, you're up for the day. Naps could still use some work but you seem to be napping well at daycare.

Your vocabulary is slacking a little bit but you're also young. You make sounds like "da ba ga ma ta ya" but do not put any together and they're in random order! You'll say mama and dada soon enough. I'm not worried about it.

You're still the light of my life. My body still hurts when we are away and I still struggle spending any time away from you. I know that eventually I will be able to deal with going out when I could be spending time with you but I am just not ready yet. I miss out on so much time with you throughout the week while working that I want to spend every waking moment with you and feel a great amount of guilt and that I am being a bad mom if I spend even more time away from you. My hope for next month is that you become a little more of a cuddler. You're definitely a boy in the sense that you just like to be rough, tough and busy all the time. You have too much to discover to sit on my lap and cuddle. It is to the point at night time where you would rather hold your own bottle rather than having me hold it for you. You've definitely found this new sense of independence that I am not ready for yet. I know it will come and go and they always say that little boys love their mommies, so I am hoping for a cuddle stage before you become a teenager and think I am the worst person alive! :)

I am so, so, so lucky to be your mommy. I've never been so grateful.

Love,

Mommy