what Graeme is up to at eight-months-old

Two things that are boggling my mind these days:

1. 2014 is over in less than 40 days.
2. I have an eight-month-old.

So many of my friends are pregnant right now and hearing about their pregnancies brings back many memories of my own pregnancy, that really seems like it was yesterday sometimes. It's hard to believe that Graeme has been in our arms for eight whole months now. We are speeding towards his first birthday. Goodness.

Graeme's eighth month brought more fun and learning and growing just like previous months have. When I look back at a picture from just one month ago, I can point out so many changes in him. 

One obvious change is that hair of his. The longer it grows, the flatter it becomes. No more fuzzy duck hair. And his face tends to gravitate more towards a little boy look than a baby look. 

What else?

• He's still not mobile, other than rolling and a tiny bit of creeping. I'm really not in a rush for him to be on the move. It's nice to leave him sitting and know he won't get too far if I need to run to the bathroom or whatever. He is lunging from a sitting position to his hands and knees a lot more, but then he just collapses to his tummy. He definitely finds a way to get to something he wants if it's not too far away from him. He does pretty well at pulling himself up and balancing in a standing position, but still needs a hand to catch him when he forgets that he's in charge of his own balance. 

  

  Figuring out a way to Penny's toys

• His fine motor skills have really blossomed this past month. He is fascinated with his hands and we will catch him watching them open and close and checking out how his fingers move. He is blindingly quick at reaching for things and is also working on feeding himself some food here and there like banana pieces or his Baby Mum Mums. Right before he turned eight months he clapped his hands for the first time. He loves clapping with us the past couple of days and I think he's pretty proud of himself.

  

  In the middle of clapping at Marbles Kids Museum yesterday.

• He still LOVES to eat, and I've yet to find a food he doesn't like so far. He's a big fan of corn and still loves his butternut squash. He and I have a new morning ritual of sharing a banana together. His menu these days consists of carrots, corn, peas, butternut squash, yellow squash, green beans, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, mangoes, apples, pears, plums, bananas, blueberries, peaches, avocado, oatmeal, and his little rice cake things.

  

  Threatening to eat his high chair if I don't fix his food fast enough.

• He's still sleeping well, although teething throws us a weird night every once in awhile that has him awake in the middle of the night. He sleeps about 15 hours every day, three hours of napping and twelve hours at night. He loves his Lovie and will snuggle it all night long and during naps. We put two in his crib so that he has a better chance of reaching one at all times.

  

  Those Halo Sleep Sacks are amazing, by the way.

• He is growing taller by the day, it seems. He won't be officially measured again until his 9 month visit to the doctor, but I'm guessing he's over 30 inches now (he was 29 at six months). He is so tall, and we really don't know where he gets it from! For pants and onesie pajamas he is in 18-month size. Those legs go on and on and on. We ended up making the switch to a bigger rear-facing carseat already. The poor kid already touches the back of the seat with his toes. If he keeps growing like this, he'll be pretty cramped back there for the next 16 months that he has to face backwards!

  

  Riding in style.

• He loves to play with his toys, and even though everything still makes an immediate trip to his mouth, he is manipulating his toys more and studying them with his hands and eyes as well. He loves to close things, so one of his favorite toys currently is a pop-up animal toy. He can't open the animal doors by himself yet, but he closes each one over and over as we open them for him. He also loves to read books with us and turn the pages himself. His touch-and-feel books are some of his favorites right now.

  

  Books are a big deal around this house. 

He's been fun his whole life, but right now he is at a really fun age. His personality is darling and he is so stinking hilarious. He loves Mommy and Daddy and the rest of his family. He is definitely developing preferences for people that he knows well and is shy and a little scared of strangers. He adores Penny and thinks she's pretty funny. I could talk about him for many more paragraphs, but I think I've covered the bases for his eight month update.

This little boy melts our hearts daily and makes us beyond grateful that we get to parent him.