Eight Months

Magdalen,
You are getting bigger!  The last check up had you at 16lbs and a bit!  You graduated from the 15% to the 25%!

You are so much happier than you have been in the past… or should I say happier more of the time because you have always been very happy when you are feeling well.  Now, the only times you really fuss is when you are constipated from teething or when you are tired or need to eat and I have kept you waiting too long.  You are still like your Momma with your patience. Lol  You are a huge social butterfly and love to talk to people and be with others.  In the last few weeks, I have noticed a tendency to make sure you know where Momma is while you are with people you don’t know.  This doesn’t seem to apply to Daddy, who you love.  I gave a talk on Sunday and you sat and played with him the entire Sacrament meeting.  He tried to point me out a few times, but you didn’t seem to notice, which is fine.  You were having a lot of fun.  Speaking of Daddy, your favourite sound/word right now is Daddada!  I think you might know what it means because I will ask you where he is while you are saying it and you will look at him.  You can say Momma but you don’t say it as often.

Another new thing that you started to do, just this week, is stick out your tongue!  I saw your cousins doing it when they were younger and you never did- I think it is because of your tongue-tie  but just this week you have started to stick the tip of it out of your mouth and when I follow your lead and stick my tongue out, you laugh and laugh and laugh.  You take after your aunts with your laugh and tone of voice, you are a soprano, not an alto like Momma and Grammy.  When you giggle it is higher than some of the kids your age.  It is high and super cute.  When I read the words “pealing laughter” I think of your laugh because it is like that.  You do laugh like Momma in the fact that your laugh starts by being just air and then goes into more than that.  I didn’t even notice it until Daddy pointed it out.

You love to play with Huckleberry still and he with you.  He will bring you his toys in hopes that you will throw them, I think and instead you attempt to put them in your mouth immediately.  That’s what he does, of course!

You still are struggling at crawling forward but you are great at crawling backwards and you can crawl forwards on the bed.  Probably because you use your head and the bed is so much softer for a head.  You did, however, crawl forward last week to get Huck’s toy.  You were on the hardwood and everything but the second he saw you grab it, he took it away and you didn’t try again that day.

You are getting better at sleeping which Momma loves.  If you don’t sleep for a nap and you start to get fussy, my new thing is to take you out.  I don’t want to fight to get you to sleep and this seems to work fairly well.  You will either go to sleep, crawl around in your bed until you do or fuss to get out in which case we take you out and you usually want to sleep again within the hour.  At night, you are waking up less.  Even with teething right now, you only wake up three or four times altogether.  AND you have slept through your second feeding twice in the last month!  After you get these teeth you are working on, I am going to try and cut it down to one bottle at night and see how that goes.

Speaking of teeth you have five and are going on eight.  You have three on the bottom with one on the way and the two middle teeth on the top with the two side ones on the way in.  It makes you super drooly, constipated and you get a rash on your face and bottom but you seem to be dealing with these teeth better than when you first started so I am grateful that you have been given that blessing.  Whether it is that you are more used to it or that they hurt less, I am grateful for your sake and mine.

Yesterday, you and I went to your first movie at the theatre and it was great.  You were so happy throughout.  There were a few times that you got tired and I gave you your bottle and then something would happen in the movie and you’d stop and watch again, going back to being happy, with giggling and babbling.  You actually woke up a baby near us with your chatter but it went back to sleep quickly.  Then on the way home from the theatre, you slept in the car the whole way home. 

We are really getting into a grove, you and I, and things are going so well!  Before now, it was fun being with you when you were happy but it was hard to deal with the upset and anger.  Now even the frustration is easier to manage.  I love being your mom, even when you are upset and you have such a big personality that it is so much fun to be around you.  You always let us know what you want and how you are feeling, even without words.

You are waking up, so I should go get you!  I sure love you.

PS- Pictures to follow- I am working on editing a Christmas photoshoot that we did.  It wasn't as good as the outdoor one but it'll work. :)