8 months!

Easton is 8 months old! (closer to 8.5 now, but whose counting!?)

He's crawling like a machine, but is getting bored with it and wants to be standing as often as possible, and 'walking' with a chair/activity table/walker, whatever else he can find! He's a SUPER curious and high-energy baby, and I must say I'm a bit nervous for when he starts walking independently... because I'm pretty sure running will quickly become his favourite method of transportation! 

He's also babbling a lot, with 'ah' and 'eh', clearly winning for favourite words! He laughs hysterically when we rough house with him, and gets very excited when he gets to play on our bed! It's hilarious actually, he can't contain himself and turns into a little panting puppy, crawling all over the covers and burying his face into the pillows and giggling! It's so cute. 

 

He's mastered the 'pincer grasp' so meal time is one of his favourite times! He'd much prefer to be feeding himself little pieces of whatever we're having than being spoon fed puree. Some of his fave finger foods are: apple (baked so its good and soft), pear, peach, tomato, cheese, potato & sweet potato, cheerios, egg, chicken, and those little puff things (which don't really have any nutritional value but do contain 40% of his iron needs, so I give him a handful each day just so we're covered). The only thing he'll tolerate being spoon-fed is yogurt. He's also tried lasagna, butter chicken with rice, various stir fries, grilled cheese and tomato, and many more 'grown up' dishes! As much as he loves food, he's still very much enjoying his milk, nursing about 6 times a day. 

Here is what Easton's routine looks like these days (with lots of activity time and outings with mom and dad in between!):

7:00 - Wake up and Breastfeed

8:00 - Breakfast (usually a handful of Cheerios, 1/2 pc of fruit, and some yogurt)

9:30 - Breastfeed and Nap (45 mins)

12:00 - Lunch  (usually something like; cheese/egg/meat, a veggie and a fruit. 

1:30 - Breastfeed and Nap (1.5 hours)

4:00 - Breastfeed and Snack

6:00 - Dinner (whatever we're having!)

6:45 - Bath

7:00/7:30 - Breastfeed and Bed

(He still has 1 middle-of-the-night waking which could occur anywhere between 11 pm and 5 am! I nurse him and he goes back down easily). 

It took us ages to transition from 3 naps to 2, but now that we're there, we find it much easier because it means we can go out and get things done without rushing back so nap time doesn't occur in the car! (He always wakes up when we stop). He pretty much nurses to sleep, but I always sing to him before I put him in the crib (You are my Sunshine), and I know he's partially awake because he opens his mouth for his pacifier every time! ha ha! Nursing him before nap time has been the only way I've been able to get him to take a good feed since he started noticing everything going on around him and is super distractible!  

What else is new? OH, he's got 2 little teeth on the bottom and they kind of surprised us because he really didn't show any major signs of teething. Maybe a bit more drool that usual and a few more night wakings for a couple of days, but that's about it. I hope thats a trend that continues for all his teeth! When they first came in, he bit me a couple times while nursing, but nothing lately, so fingers crossed on that too! 

In terms of size, I'm not sure what he weighs right now but if I were to guess, I'd say about 21-22 lbs (just based on the fact he was 18 lb 10 oz at his 6 month appt). He's wearing 12 month clothes for the most part, and has size 3 feet. He's about 29 or 30" tall. Percentile-wise, he's always been in the 75th for weight and 95th for height (surprise surprise!)

All in all, he's a very good baby! He's active and energetic, always happy and smiling :) We have our share of meltdowns, refusals and sleeping issues, but we can't imagine life without our monkey! He's completes our little family (for now!) and we're having a blast!