Eight Months Old

Asher turned eight months old today. I don't want to make the usual, completely obvious statements that I normally make on these monthly updates - you know, "Gosh, I can't believe he's eight months old...it seems like only yesterday I cradled him in my belly...time sure does fly with a baby..." - but it's so hard not to. That's because IT'S TRUE! I think I keep thinking that the more I say it, the more life will want to prove me wrong and then time will suddenly slow down a bit. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this must be the one department of my life I can't seem to jinx. And, unfortunately, I'm really stubborn so I'll probably continue to make these same stupid comments on a daily basis for THE REST OF MY LIFE. And they say I have a hard time with letting go.

Asher has spent the past month keeping us on our toes. LITERALLY. He still mostly army-crawls, but is starting to big-baby crawl, and, either way he moves, HE IS QUICK. I've come close to stepping on him a couple of times because, like most kids, he loves to be underfoot. And the walker? I wouldn't be surprised if Stephen or I end up falling over him before he stops using it - if he's not looking out the window or chasing the cats in it, he uses it to be on our heels in the kitchen. Also, I've learned I really need to wear shoes around the house because that damn thing can hurt when he comes barreling at you in a full baby-run; my toes are going to be permanently deformed if I don't start making better attempts to protect them. He's started to climb the stairs and has, so far, been able to make it up two stairs before either getting frustrated or sliding back down to the bottom. He's pulling himself up on almost anything he can and is starting to make attempts at cruising, too. The other night while Stephen and I were dining at our usual spot - the coffee table in the living room, like all classy people - Asher discovered if he pulls himself up there, he has pretty good access to our dinner plates. Ooh, SQUISHY food, we LOVE squishy! Stephen seemed disappointed when he made the comment that we probably ought to start eating like civilized people in the dining room from now on. All of this plus the fact that he can sit up by himself, I think, has made an increase in his sense of independence. He's always been very active, he and his jimmy legs, but I think he's become even more squirmy and squirrely since he's learned to be more mobile. I try to hold him, but it's hard to because he's constantly trying move. Perhaps he's trying to break some world record of time spent in constant motion?

I know this contradicts the previous paragraph, but a good thing that has happened this month is SLEEP. (And, unlike life, sleep is a department I have a knack of jinxing, so I will word this very carefully.) We went for about a month and a half where he would NOT sleep through the night; many, many nights, poor Stephen would be up almost every hour putting Asher back to sleep. For the past few weeks, though, Asher has been a better sleeper. He still will wake up once or twice for a pacifier reinsertion, and occasionally Stephen will have to rock Asher back to sleep, but, in general, he's been much less maintenance during the night and is staying asleep much better than before. And, he's back to taking naps for Stephen during the day; there for awhile, Stephen seemed to be the only person unable to get Asher to take a nap. The novelty of having Daddy home with him during the day must have finally worn off, so now he's able to let himself let go of Daddy for a bit of sleepy.

We began giving Asher some finger foods this month, too, so he can begin to learn to self-feed. MESSY is an understatement. For some reason, poop isn't as gross when it comes from your own baby, spit-up isn't as gross when it comes from your own baby, but soggy, slimy mush that was once a piece of toast is just as disgusting as it would be from anyone else. I'm really not looking forward to full-fledged self-feeding. At least right now, we can just give him his finger foods in the evening, right before splishy-splash time. Would three baths a day be too ridiculous?

We've found that Asher is becoming more ticklish, which has led to more laughs in the house - and I can't complain about having more laughter around! There is truly nothing sweeter to me than the sound of my little boy laughing, and I often find myself tearing up when I hear it. He's become practically obsessed with the poor kitties, too; if he's not chasing them while crawling, he's chasing them in his walker. Poor Sophie was run over a couple of weeks ago! One good thing about it - they definitely motivate him to crawl all over the place, since they're constantly trying to flee his grasps. No crawling toys have been needed for Asher!

Asher made both his first trip to the zoo and to the museum last week. It's so much fun taking him places now because you can tell he's really interested in what he sees and studies things to try to figure them out. Those two trips have made me really excited about next summer when he's even more capable of enjoying activities like that. In the mean time, his next monthly update will mark month nine (EEK!) and the beginning of Fall. Pumpkin patch trips, first sips of apple cider, playing in pumpkin innards, and trick-or-treating, here we come!

AUGUST PICTURES ARE FINALLY HERE...