8 Months!

Smiling at Daddy

Showing Mr. Lion who's boss.

Milestones:

• New food this month: Carrots, Peas, Oatmeal, Prunes, Green beans, Squash
• He's really interested in making different noises and sounds with his mouth. I feel like he is watching us intently trying to figure it out. ("It" meaning talking.)
• He hasn't started to crawl yet, but he has gotten up on all fours.
• He finally rolled from his back to his stomach. He's been rolling the other way for months now. He doesn't like being on his stomach, so he avoided rolling to that position for a really long time.
• First St. Patrick's Day, because that's a big deal.

Likes:

• At the beginning of the month, he liked to grab my face and bring it really close to his and yell. Apparently, it is a fun game.
• His favorite toys are his toy guitar from his Aunt Michele, his toy car from his Aunt Katie and Uncle Tim and he really likes his stackable rings.
• The vacuum. It is a fascinating specimen.
• Going outside!
• Reading books and turning the pages.
• He loves his activity center that he jumps in.
• Avocados, oatmeal, peaches, peas, squash

Dislikes:

• Sleeping in the crib
• Bananas, carrots, prunes

Tidbits:

• At the beginning of the month, we would make kissy noises back and forth all day. Now it has changed to making the "brrr" sound to each other. 
• He's a noisy eater. If he is eating something he likes he sounds like Bill Murray in What About Bob. If he is eating something he hates, he gets mad and swats at the spoon. He has pretty good aim and we both end up covered in baby food.
• He's very interested by shadows and light.
• He's in 6 month size clothes right now.
• He makes the noise for "mama" and "mom" all the time, but I don't think he is actually saying it yet.
• As for other sounds he makes, he still says "Uh-huh" "Uh-uh" and "Yeah" on occasion. I really can't tell if he knows what these mean or not. Here are a few examples of his responses that makes me think he does. My mom was holding him and he got fussy and she asked, "Do you want to go to your Mommy?" He responded tearfully, "Uh-huh." Another day I said, "Did you know you are the cutest baby in all the world?" He looked at me and said "Uh-huh" which cracked me up. He gave me the affirmative answer of Uh-huh as well when I said "Did you know I love you?" Another day I was trying to get him to eat some type of veggie baby food which he didn't want. He shook his head saying, "Uh-uh, Uh-uh, Uh-uh" over and over again. I feel like he is communicating, but I just can't be sure, because he still is rather young.
• Whether he is responding vocally yet or not, we figured out this month that he does understand some things we are saying. He has a little jumping activity center he likes to play in (pictured below). One day I said, "Can you get the monkey?" He reached over and grabbed the monkey. A little bit later, I said, "Baby, where is the monkey?" He stopped what he was doing and looked up at the toy monkey above his head. We've done this multiple times with the same result. I've also notice he gets happy when I say "Daddy" when Danny is gone and he seems to know what cereal is when I mention the word. I've also noticed him get mad if I say "Nap". He is definitely starting to figure out different words.

Reaching for the monkey.