Friday, January 16, 2015

Carter: 8 Months

I officially have no idea where month seven went, and can't believe we already have an eight month old at home! Last week, I spent an afternoon fighting back tears packing away all of C's six month and even some nine month sized clothes into storage as he's outgrown all of them. He is barely fitting in his 12 month PJs these days, and at T's latest 'at-home' measurement last week, C was coming in at 30 1/4 inches for height. This puts him way off the charts for height at his age. I suppose this only proves the theory Gpa T has about C being an expensive little fella with how fast he's been flying through the different sized clothing in his wardrobe. 


 Growing like a weed aside, C has been such a happy baby this month (aside from a couple of meltdowns over the holidays from his sleep schedule being messed with), and has the cutest little personality. He LOVES to watch what's going on around him, and gets so excited that his smile practically jumps off his face when T walks through the door in the evening after getting home from work. I occasionally get the really excited smile after he wakes up from nap time, but usually when I pick him up in the morning, he just sees me and cries. The moment when he sees me is generally the same moment he realizes he's got a wet diaper and may very possibly be starving.




8 MONTH FAVORITES
Dad coming home from work
Bouncing in the Jumparoo 
Food - green beans and bananas are favorites!
Trying to drink from mom's water glass 
Swimming
Storytime and helping turn pages
Looking at himself in the mirror


8 MONTH LEAST FAVORITES
Learning to use a sippy cup 


As soon as C spots a sippy cup with formula, it's like we're coming at him with swords. If there happens to be prune juice in the cup, he has been willing to try drinking that...so maybe all hope is not lost. So far, formula is a definite no go though...try try again...



MEMORIES & MILESTONES

C has finally figured out how to roll over both directions from his tummy. He has yet to figure out rolling from back to front, but he's been starting to think about it when he spots a toy that is just out of reach. Also new this month, starting to sit unassisted for short periods of time, and finally starting to put some weight on those thunder thighs of his. WooHoo! I'm not convinced this has anything to do with his physical therapy and baby 'workouts', so much as it has to do with finally getting a handle on his size and realizing how he needs to balance in order to stay upright. I'm guessing that the numerous hours he spends in the jumparoo, and playing with his new activity cube are likely a huge help here too.



 Did I mention C has a new theme song? After realizing how thunderous his thighs have gotten, we decided to play him Thunderstruck by ACDC. He absolutely cracks up when he hears it, and it's pretty much the funniest thing ever watching him belly laugh through the entire song. On the standing front, he has quite the little lead bottom and hasn't figured out how to stand up straight yet, so practicing standing has been very hard on my back. Favorite place to practice? Standing in front of the mirror looking at himself of course...he thinks it's about the greatest thing ever, and when he sees himself, he gets the most adorable smile. Must know how good looking he is!



Swimming Lessons! C loved the water soooo much on our vacation back in November...still working on that blog!...that we decided to get him into swim lessons at the YMCA. Obviously, there isn't a whole lot of swimming he can do on his own just yet, but he is completely consumed by watching the other slightly older babies/toddlers and seeing what they are doing. For anyone wondering, the Bedell Family YMCA offers parent-child swim lessons for kiddos who are six months-three years old. We just missed the age cut-off for lessons last fall, but are having lots of fun this time around. C has been loving 'jumping' off the wall, practicing his kicks, and just getting to splash around and watch the other kids. No worries that it has been about -20 outside each and every lesson we've been to so far, and has taken twice as long to get him ready beforehand and showered and clothed afterwards than the actual lesson itself. It wears him out, and it gives him a chance to interact with some other kids that are about his age, so I'm calling it a win-win. I have a hunch we will be spending many many hours at the pool in the future!



I haven't mentioned our daily schedule in a while, so thought I better now. This has been pretty much the same since about 5 months, give or take, with the introduction of solid foods.

8 MONTH SCHEDULE

8-8:30a.m. // Wake up, eat breakfast (usually milk, oatmeal, and a fruit), then play quietly for a while learning new things by himself while mom tries to catch up on some housework, blogging, or emails. On physical therapy days, it's a mad dash out the door after breakfast, and if C isn't too tired afterwards, we may try to sneak in a few errands before returning home for nap time.

10:15a.m. // Story time in the nursery, by 10:30, it's time for a nap.

Noon-12:30 // Wake up from nap, time for lunch! After milk, we usually play for an hour or so before having a smorgasbord of veggies and a fruit for an afternoon snack. If we have any errands to run, or any hopes of getting outside, this is when it has to happen.

3:15p.m. // Back to the nursery for story time and by 3:30 it's nap mode.

4:30-5:15p.m. // Wake up from nap time, Dad's almost home. Have dinner, milk, oatmeal, and either veggies, fruit, or both. After eating, better watch out! It's play time! Jumparoo, activity cube, more stories, trying to learn how to use a sippy cup, watching dad lift, watching mom cook, sitting at the table with mom & dad for family dinner, working on sitting or rolling...you name it, anything that involves spending time with mom or dad.

7:30p.m. // Let's get ready to wind down for the day! Time for PJs a few stories, and a final meal of milk before calling it a day by 8pm, 8:30 at the latest. Still sleeping through the night for now, but guessing that may change once that first tooth decides to make an appearance!



'Isn't it funny how day by day
 nothing changes, 
but when you look back, 
everything is different...' 
C.S. Lewis

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Thanks for visiting! Let me know if you have any suggestions of recipes I should try, fun ideas to do with the kiddo, or a suggested adventure to add to our bucket list!