Baby James: Eight months

The Bear Series: Eight Months

My dear boy,

You are eight months old, little man, and time seems to be accelerating away from me.  Wasn't it just last week that I wrote one of these messages?  Ah well, here we are again.

So what have you been up to? You've figured out how to roll here, there and everywhere.  You have also pretty much figured out how to remain sat up, though you are just as likely as not to decide you no longer wish to and tip yourself over on purpose.  The new mobility and motor skill has generally improved your mood.  You also decided you would take a pacifier - MAM soothers - about 6 weeks ago, and as a result you're practically a different baby.  Except when you're not; you're still a demanding little thing, particularly in the evenings.  You seem to be a morning person like mummy, and are quite happy to play independently for a decent stretch of time after you wake for the day.

Your fine motor skills are progressing well too.  You've become quite coordinated picking your soother up and working it properly into your mouth.  You have a fairly decent pincer grip, honed on Cheerios, which you're getting better at letting go of once you pop them into your mouth.  Your relationship with food is coming along - you've become less resistant to new flavours and much better at coordinating chewing and swallowing finger foods.  I was surprised to find after dinner the other night that you had legitimately ingested three mini rice cakes, rather than simply rendering them a pile of drool-soaked crumbs or squirreling large pieces away in the depths of your feeding seat. When I do give you food on spoons, which you dutifully grab and shove into your mouth yourself, I have to work three spoons at once through a rotation - one for each of your hands and another one for me for the next mouthful of food.

Verbally, you've started to coo and gurgle with much more definition, primarily ah-goo-goo, and often do this when you're gnawing on a bit of food or your pacifier.  You figured out how to blow raspberries a few days ago and undertook it diligently, with impressive and copious amounts of dribble.

Sleepwise, you're still happily taking three naps during the day, so long as our day is sufficiently unscheduled to accommodate this.  Your bedtime is between 7-8 and I think both of us are glad when that time arrives.  Recently you've started falling asleep without needing to nurse until you're completely out.  Sometimes you unlatch and turn your back on me.  A few times you've even drifted off left on your own with the soothing sounds and colours of a YouTube lullaby track.  Overnight, you still wake a handful of times to nurse briefly.  I'm not sleep deprived at all, but when I was tracking your sleep patterns for a while I found it discouraging, as I envisioned having to cosleep until you're four in order to avoid numerous trips from my bed to yours.  I'm sure you'll get there eventually, and if I'm honest I'm far too lazy to rock the boat and try to force you to sleep longer, or on your own.  And anyway, if we weren't cosleeping, I wouldn't get to wake up to this adorable mug:

Breaking news: you cut your first tooth the day before you turned 8 months.  I noticed this when you chomped on my finger a few hours after having told some friends that we might have 4-6 weeks to wait if you followed your sister's pattern.  I was dreading the arrival of this tooth, as it marks the beginning of the end of the gummy grin I adore so much.  People ask me if teething was bothering you, but honestly you're often such a fussy little thing, who could tell?  I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's a good thing you're so damn cute.

I love you with all my heart,

Mummy