Tales from Waters Edge: Celebrating Eight Months

Today, Baby Scout, you are Eight months old.

Sleeping Patterns: Baby Scout, you are a great sleeper at night. You usually go to sleep between 8:00 - 8:30 and get up between 6:00 - 7:00. You don't usually wake up during the night unless you have a belly ache. This month we have stopped swaddling you and are a full-time crib sleeper (except for morning snuggles with momma). We still do a bedtime routine of cereal, bath, pajamas, books, eat and then bed. This month we have tried something different. Instead of letting you go to sleep while you are eating, I feed you with the light on to try to keep you awake. When you are done eating, I lay you in you crib and turn off the light. I rub you back until you fall asleep (usually less than ten minutes). This works better, because I don't have to try to put you down and keep you asleep. You also tend to stay asleep longer and put yourself back to sleep if you wake up. Naps are a different story. You still hardly ever let me put you down for a nap. We just hold you so you can rest during the day, and you will usually sleep for about an hour to hour and a half. When you are just waking up, you are a little grumpy. It takes you a few minutes before you want to play.

What You Like To Do: Baby Scout, you love to play with all your toys you got for Christmas. You love the basketball goal and mailbox so much. You also like to sit in your chair and look at (chew on) books. You are really starting to enjoy having you friends over to play or playing at your friends' house. You are all starting to interact with each other, and it is so fun to watch you play. You still love to swing outside. We have not gotten to do this much because of the yucky weather. You love to visit Daddy at work and wrestle with Daddy at home. You also enjoy attending all Basketball games. You really like to watch the game and take it all in. You really like it when we let you play with your food. Sometimes, I put a baby yogurt on your tray and let you play with it with your hands. I think you think its fun to make a mess. You have seemed to enjoy being in your exersaucer more this month. Most of all, you like to bounce.

New Things You Have Done this Month: Baby Scout, this has been a big month for you! You had your last kindermusik class for the semester but will start back at the end of February. You saw your first musical Christmas lights display and enjoyed watching the lights twinkle very much. You survived your first holiday season with flying colors. You opened presents from December 20th to December 31st and loved all the special celebrations with family. You attended your first South Christmas Classic Tournament and loved watching all of the ballgames. This month, you spent your first night with an egg over your crib. This is an old remedy that is supposed to help with teething, and it has worked great for you! You did a little traveling this month to Alabama to meet your Great Aunt Betty and Great Aunt O'nita. You did great on you first New Year's Eve. We even let you stay out a little past your bedtime to attend a New Year's Eve party. You were such a good girl! This month, you did your first army crawl forward (you have been scooting backwards for a while now) but have only done it one time. You also got your second tooth on New Year's Eve. On January 10th, you got to go out in your first big snow. We took you out in the 7 1/2 inch deep snow for about five minutes. It came all the way up to your behind! Speaking of behind, you now know how to pull yourself up off you behind. You have done this totally unassisted about five times. This month was the first time you attended Trivia at the Mexican Restaurant. You didn't know many answers. Ha! January 14th was the first time you were able to consistently feed yourself puffs and you drank from a sippy cup with mommy's for the first time on January 11th. You got your teeth brushed for the first time this month, and you don't seem to mind it. Finally, for the first time this month, you were able to wear a hair bow without a headband. You now have enough hair to keep it in place. This month, you have really started to say more sounds. You say uh-ma (mama), da da, and gu gu (good girl, we think). You have also started to want momma more this month and are starting to realize when I am not around or in the room with you, and you don't really like it. You will also reach for momma, daddy, and other people. You also make a singing sound like an owl. Today was the first time we used your umbrella stroller, and you did great. You have been a busy girl.

Eating Patterns: Baby Scout, you have sort of become a picky eater. You eat Stage 2 foods and small amounts of table food. You have tried Mum-Mums and puffs, and you now like to eat the puffs and Mum-Mums and can feed them to yourself. In the morning as soon as you wake up, you have cereal (your favorite is wheat) mixed with fruit. You usually eat it all and finish the left over fruit as well. At lunch, you have a fruit and a vegetable. You have also tried turkey and chicken at lunch. Your belly didn't really like either one, and you liked the chicken better than the turkey. If you have a baby food fruit, I give you a table food vegetable and vice versa. You have tried cottage cheese, peas, green beans, peaches, bananas, pears, avocado and carrots. You have also had small bites of grilled cheese, a blueberry muffin, and bread. This totally stresses mommy out trying to make sure the pieces are small enough that you won't choke. At dinner, you have rice cereal mixed with a fruit. Your favorite food vegetable is squash, and you favorite fruit is apples. You don't really care for any green vegetables (table or baby food). In addition, you nurse four or five times a day for fifteen to twenty minutes.

Dislikes: Baby Scout, you don't really have much that you dislike. You don't love getting your nose wiped.

Diaper Size: Scout, you wear a Size 3 diaper.

Clothes Size: Scout, you wear all size 6 - 9 months and 6 - 12 month clothes. Your pajamas are all 6 - 9 months too. But, I just bought you some 12 months pajamas.

Eye/Hair Color: Scout, your eyes are a brown color, and I think they are going to stay brown. Your hair is red and is getting darker and longer each day.