Trust: It's a Work in Progress: Milestones: Eight months!

I totally missed Eb's 7 month update so I'm going to combine both months into one super long post! You have been warned!

When Eb hit 6 months mobility hit a new level - he started crawling! Of course he was a bit creaky at first, but he loves being able to move on his own power! It was fun to watch him in his early days of crawling - he would lift his hands really high and his but twists very precisely! It has become much more natural lately as he perfects his technique. Shortly after he started crawling we would watch him try to go really fast (like a spurt of super baby speed!) since he wasn't very coordinated these first attempts usually ended in face plants. But he quickly caught up with his ambitions and can now really scoot around the house!

With added mobility has come the need for more firm boundaries. I had a vague idea of what I wanted discipline and boundaries to look like, but I never anticipated having to begin them at 6 months! I frantically started asking moms I know and respect how they taught boundaries to their little ones and if he was too little to understand. They reassured he was old enough to understand, especially if the need for boundaries had already presented itself. They also helped me see the difference between discipline (correction for disobediences or crossing know boundaries, often what you do for older children) and training (teaching what the boundaries are to start with, what the correct response to 'no' is, attentiveness to what Mommy and Daddy say).

One example of what training looks like for us involves the brick around our wood stove. We don't want Eb to go anywhere near the stove an the brick makes a good boundary. The first couple times he touched it we said 'no touch' in a quiet, firm voice and pulled his hand away while redirecting him. The third time, when we know he's heard the words enough to recognize them, he got a flick on the hand accompanying 'no touch' and redirection. It was heartbreaking to see the shock on his face, but I'm so proud of how quickly he learned! Within a few training sessions I can now say 'no touch' and he takes his hand off whatever he was going for. He knows what is off bounds (like the brick, power cords that we can't get permanently out of his reach, etc) and most of them he just leaves alone - but a couple he challenges on a regular basis, almost to check that we are paying attention. While hard at first, this has been very freeing for both of us - I don't have to watch him like a hawk wherever he is so that I can constantly remove him from every possible harm, and since he knows the boundaries he is allowed to crawl in almost every room in the house ( the office and utility are out of bounds just because of what they contain and baby gates define those boundaries). This does not mean I let my son roam completely unattended - but it does mean I don't stress about him getting burned or electrocuted while I'm washing dishes and he doesn't want to be in the Jumperoo.

Just before his 7 month birthday those long awaited first teeth finally broke the surface! I expected teething pain to quickly recede once the teeth finally broke through but discomfort lingered for about another week. I love seeing those pearly whites when he smiles! This also means he is closer to solids, we are thinking if starting them this next month!

Eb has been developing his fine motor skills using his index finger. He has started using just one finger to touch and, when possible, move things. He looks so precise reaching out with that index finger!

Sleep disturbance has continued through this last month and possibly gotten worse, he usually ends up in my bed before morning so I can rest and he can get some extra sleep - it works fine for him because he sleeps really well when he's in bed with us - me, not so much, but at least I'm horizontal.

It is really fun for me to see how drastically different babies develop. In our bible study there is a little girl who is two months older than Eb, but you would never know when they are side by side! They are the contrast of male and female, they are roughly the same length but Eb is much bigger in girth and her hands and feet are so petite compared to his! I love it!

Grandma came to visit!

I don't want my picture taken!!!

Sporting the Steelers colors from Poppa John!

Practicing sitting up and playing with the pots!

Fashion sense with Great Granddaddy!

Playing with Daddy!

"Hi-YA"!

Now on to developments from the last month (7-8)!

The day after Eb turned 7 months we started "solids", which for him meant rice cereal. Aside from a few faces he did an awesome job! Shortly after that we put peaches in his fresh fruit mesh bag thing. At first he was not impressed, but soon he became excited whenever we brought out the mesh bag! We then went to carrots - which he was not excited about and I quickly backed off of because his sleep seemed to get worse the more solids we introduced. So we cut back to just once a day cereal recently and are considering trying meat next at the pediatricians recommendation.

Aside from the rice cereal I am trying to make all of Eb's baby food here at home, so far it going better than expected. I have a small food processor which I use to grind things very finely once they are cooked and then fill sections of an ice cube tray and freeze. This is great because the food pops easily out of the tray and it great for a single serving! I love it because I can feed him organically without spending an arm and a leg - plus I know exactly what in it and freezing preserves more nutrients than canning!

Since Eb has mastered crawling he can disappear in a heartbeat! He has this Super fast crawl that he likes to use when he's serious about getting somewhere! His favorite use of it is when playing chase the baby with Chris - he'll crawl away from Chris and then look over shoulder as of to say 'betcha can't catch me!' then squeal and take off really fast when Chris starts crawling after him! I LOVE watching them!

Eb also loves being read to now. He knows most of the time when we pull him into our laps while sitting on the floor we are going to read to him, so sometimes when we are playing on the floor he will initiate the reading by crawling up into our laps! We grab a book that's handy and he sits there happy as a lark listening and pointing at the pictures!

His sleep is still very interrupted through the night. At the beginning of the month it was worse than usual because Chris was out of town for a week. It seemed to bother Eb and really threw him off his schedule. He would look for Chris in the mornings and was really confused to have my brothers and sisters over almost every night. He improved some after Chris got home but is still waking an average of four to five times a night. It is doubly hard because he doesn't want Chris to comfort him, only me. I keep telling myself he will sleep better soon - right now that feels like a lie though :)

He is working on getting his top incisors in now. They still haven't shown their pearly selves but do seem to be coming in faster than his bottom two.

He still likes to people watch but he's less likely to interact with strangers now. Instead he likes to burry his head in my shoulder when they come close to talk to him. Hilarious to me to think of a 8 month old being 'shy'.

He is starting to discover the joy of boxes, putting things in and out - including himself! Ever since he successfully got in a big box with Aunt Hannah he has tried getting in several here at home but without much success. He can still get toys in and out though!

During a trip to check on his ears we found out that Eb is keeping up with his big boy reputation. He was 23.9 lbs and 29.25 inches long! For 7 months, which he was at the time, this put him in the "over 95th percentile" for both length and weight! I can't wait to see if this curve continues with how mobile he has become!

Eb is in such a hurry to be grown up and able to move faster, so he's already started on the next step towards walking - pulling up! He loves seeing what is on top of chairs couches and coffee tables along with the different view this new angle affords! With this new step he has discovered a new form of entertainment, looking out the windows! The windows in our old house are just the right height for him to pull up in and look at the world outside! Hours of entertainment for him and a precious sight to me!

Well that's my boy this month I can't wait to see what next month brings!