Eight (Months) is Great

The closest thing I could get to a smile this go-round.  He smiles all the time
but when a camera comes out?  Nada!

Eight months (!!) with Sam around.  Here are the highlights:

• Two teeth!! (They came in a couple weeks ago.  I discovered the first one while we were skyping with my parents and Sam was gnawing on my finger.  All of a sudden - OUCH! - that's a tooth!  It left a mark in my finger.  The next one came a few days later.)
• Crawling!! (He's been "mobile" for a little while but his efficiency has gone up drastically as of 8 months + 1 day old when he started going forward.  It was crazy to see him do a couple little steps in the morning and by afternoon he's unstoppable!)
• Sleeping is sporadic.  (Still.  We tried some cry-it-out-ing a couple weeks ago because I was done getting up every 1-2 hours to help him get back to sleep.  It went surprisingly well and his stretches between feeds went up to 4+ hours.  Wahoo!  We were so encouraged, we booked a trip to Capitol Reef and then things went south again.  Up every hour all night in the hotel.  Long, long, nights.  So we tried again at home with the training.  A little better for a few days, and now we're back to crying for 30+ minute stints some nights between 3 hour feed stretches.  I don't know.  Sleep is hard for our little ones.)  
• He's pretty solidly on a 2-nap-a-day schedule, though.  One in the morning, usually around 9:30 or 2ish hours after he wakes up for the day.  The next is 2.5-3 hours after he wakes up from that one.  So it varies a lot.  Good days are when he goes down for his second nap shortly after Cal and they sleep for a couple hours and I have some hands-free time.  But that doesn't always happen.  And it's okay.  Bedtime is typically around 7 or 7:30: into size 4 diaper for nighttime (so I don't have to change him during the night), jammies, sleep suit, bottle from dad and into crib.  It works surprisingly smoothly most nights.  And then it's anyone's guess how long he'll sleep before his spree of wake-ups happens.
• He loves: 
• jumping (and grunting)
• outside
• his dad
• his sister
• his mom
• the lawnmower
• swinging
• stories
• milk
• smiling
• walks in the stroller
• hikes in the carrier
• getting into boxes and baskets that he shouldn't be in (more baby proofing needed around here!)
• eating (finally. eats a good three meals a day of solids (loves butternut squash!) and has tasted lots of new flavors including: cumin (in his sweet potatoes), cottage cheese, yogurt, bread stick, pizza crust, whipped cream, rice pilaf, apple slices (great for gnawing on), blueberries, hashbrowns, prune juice (seems to be the only thing that will get him pooping when he's plugged).
• He doesn't love: 
• bibs (well, eating them is okay)
• lying down for a diaper change (especially first thing after he's been picked up from his crib in the morning)
• getting put into his high chair (but once the food is coming, he's fine)
• New tricks: 
• crawling (already discussed above)
• sitting up by himself (either by a little over-the-hip rotation action, or pushing up from hands and knees to hands and toes and then just sort of going all the way over to bottom - I've tried to get a video of this, but I can't seem to catch it with the camera!)
• getting down from sitting (to hands and knees, or just toppling onto his head backwards (but that one is becoming less and less the norm))
• pincer grasp action (picks up cheerios or other small food items on his tray and actually puts them in his mouth!)
• babbles "da-da-da" with the cutest little smile
• "bonks" (soft head butts) on command/request
• slobbery open-mouth kisses on my cheek (upon request)
• almost clapping

Oh, how he loves his big sis!

This is the beginning of the sitting down via standing up
sequence.  I sort of got it in a flip-book picture style instead
of video.

Wide stance this time!

Laughing at Cal.

Watch Samuel grow: 7 months | 6 months | 5 months | 4 months | 3 months | 2 months | birth