Chloë is eight months old now. Eight months! We've been saying "such a big girl" all month. She's got so much going on, I don't even know where to start.
Let's start with the moving. There is lots of moving these days. Squirming, grabbing, rolling, twisting, and what you might, maybe, call crawling. Daycare does. Eric and I consider it more like inching, or maybe tacking. She gets around, but she doesn't really do it in straight lines for any period of time. She does get around, though. She can pull herself up to stand! She's very good at going from sitting to on her hands and knees, and back again. She can't pull herself up from her back to sit, but she's working on it.
She's become mama's girl lately; we think separation anxiety has seriously settled in. There were a few nights when she started screaming hysterically, in a way we haven't heard before, but calmed down when I went in. Luckily that hasn't lasted, but she still cries when I leave the room (except at daycare--she loves daycare). She'll lean out of other people's arms to reach for me, which is sometimes inconvenient but very sweet.
Her transition to solids continues. She's now eating a couple of ounces of cereal, sometimes with fruit mixed in, at breakfast, a couple of ounces of fruit or vegetables at lunch, some Cheerios or other snacks in the afternoon, and two to six ounces of food at dinner, depending on the day. (Also four nursings and one or two bottles.) She's had cheese and yogurt, rye, barley, cinnamon, eggs, pomegranate, and probably lots of other things, and is now eating small pieces of bread, vegetables, fruit--whatever seems soft enough and small enough to offer her. Her pincer grasp is developing, but she's still doing a lot of whole-hand grabbing.
We're working on her sippy cup training. With the Avent ones she can drink out of them by herself if it's very full. Otherwise she needs help. She also delights in drinking out of a real cup held by Mama. Mostly it goes down her chin, but sometimes she'll surprise herself with a perfect swallow. She loves finger foods, and will reject spoonfuls of her favorite foods (sweet potatoes, peaches) in favor of picking up puffs or cereal or fruit bits and expertly aiming them at her mouth. The aiming is expert, mind you, not the landing.
Miss Mindy at daycare has been telling her "wave bye bye!" when I leave, and I've been waving at her. A few days ago she started waving back--hesitantly, and kind of limp-wristed; but definitely a baby wave. This morning she waved when I said good-bye, before I waved at her. Have I mentioned she's the smartest girl in the world? She's also learning to do high-fives. She continues to be more interactive, and lots of fun. (And very wiggly.)
She loves her baths now, especially her edible ducky. I read her a bath book this evening and she was incredibly excited. Books! And baths! A book with a ducky in it! With her ducky! And Mommy! She still doesn't like getting her hair and face washed, but things are better when you can eat a ducky.
Toys are now a major thing. It's important to have them around. She looks at them and picks them up and waves them around and, always, tries to chew them. She has teeth now! Two little razor-sharp teeth, which we brush every night with a little nubby silicone thing that slips over your finger. She loves this, probably because of the buzzy noise it makes as it bumps over her teeth. She also loves biting. She's bitten me once. On my nose. It's my own fault for saying "Oh no! You're eating my faaaaaace!" whenever she sucks on my cheek, but I love the way she grins when we do it. She loves dolls, too, and pictures of babies, and blocks and balls. The world is a great big toy chest. And teething ring.
She has a lot to say these days. Mostly it's "da da da da da da da," but sometimes it's "Ummm," or "ba blah blah," or "I am not being sufficiently entertained! Correct this situation or I will use your head as my personal punching bag!" Or maybe I just imagine that last one. She's so expressive these days, every day more of a person. She laughs during peek-a-boo sometimes. She loves grabbing at the pages of her books (which is why we're board-book and bath-book only these days). She smiles when I sing her silly songs or Eric zooms her above his head. She screams when we take away a toy or force her to put down the tube of Butt Paste because we're done changing her. She moves my hands when they're somewhere she doesn't want them. She's all about communication. She's less easy than she was a few months ago, but she's more fun and much more interesting.
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