eight is great

 Oh my goodness... I have been working on this post for a few weeks now and never did I think that I would get such a wild set of photos to mark the day.
Fifi, you were in RARE form yesterday as I snapped these shots. You wouldn't hold still for a minute and I was so worried you were going to arch and wiggle your way out of the chair as I snapped each frame. Most of the photos are hopelessly blurry, but I think I am okay with that because it captures who you are this month SO much. You are a firecracker and a goofball and you make us ALL smile so very much.

The weekend after turning 7 months old you started to simultaneously sit up on your own and crawl. It has been hysterical watching you navigate the linoleum and not so hysterical to watch you come around the corner into a room and not quite take it as wide as you need to- ouch! your little head has been bumped more times this month than in the previous 7 months combined.

One of my favorite moments was a couple of Sundays ago.  I sat you down between the couch and the ottoman. You heard your brother, peaked your little head out from behind the ottoman, giggled like a crazy person and DARTED towards him... oh boy, let the fun begin!

You are all up in your brother's business and he loves it and hates it all at once. But mostly, he is really good at making sure you don't get into anything you aren't supposed to- like little chokeable items, plastic zippy bags, bubble wrap (no matter how fun) or crayons. Who knew our house was so full of tempting and dangerous things. There have been a few moments where I watched O get a little more rowdy than he should have been and instead of tears, there you were, giggling your head off at him.

The dog water! oh, the dog water. How I forgot the excitement that the little silver dish brings to a new crawler. It's like an instinct, a magnetic force field drawing your chubby little hands to it...you found the dish in the laundry room without ever seeing the dog actually drinking water in there and came out smiling and soaking wet.

This past week you have been all about the hand clapping (clap your hands everybody, everybody clap your hands!) and I can hear you in the car seat as we drive home, pat-pat-pat-giggle. You are working on waving bye-bye, though right now it is more of a double hand deal. Sometimes the clapping and waving are one in the same and it is super duper sweet.

You and your daddy melt my heart. He is smitten beyond words with his sweet, baby-girl and I can see a really wonderful bond happening there. He loves to put you in the backpack while doing the evening chores in the back yard. When he is playing soccer on the PlayStation, the first place you go is to the controller cord-shake it and put it in your mouth. All with a big grin knowing that he is going to say, "No, no baby. Not in the mouth." It's a game that is beyond funny to watch. The other day while the boys rough housed, you crawled over to them and gave Daddy-O a nice big pat on the hands, as if to say, "Play with me too, Daddy!"

Since you are sitting up so nicely, I have started giving you a bath with your brother more often. It's pretty funny to see you two in there. The other day your brother dumped an entire bottle of NEW bubble bath in the tub when I wasn't looking. Let's just say things were squeaky clean after that...

You have really gotten into eating solids. So far we have been pretty easy going about feeding you- if you seem interested I will give it a try... bananas, pears, apples, mango, green beans, pinto beans, squash, sweet potatoes, pretzels, pizza crust, the celery from auntie kiki's bloody Mary- you know, the usual. tee hee... You aren't really sure about avocados or scrambled eggs yet, but you gave it the old college try. It's rumored at school that you will only take the bottle from one of the teachers, Ms. Mary. She is the sweetest abuelita and spoils you as if you were her own granddaughter. I love that.

Sleep has been hit or miss. I savored every minute of the two hour nap you took in my arms on Easter Sunday. It was so sweet to just sit there with you snoring away. At night you will sleep for about 5-6hrs then wake up to feed, toot and then fall back asleep. On occasion though I have been up for more than hour in the middle of the night trying to get you to go back to sleep. I think there are a lot of reasons for the multiple wake ups at night... I know this will pass, but at the same time, there is nothing like snuggling up in the glider chair with a baby in your lap, even if my neck is totally crinked the next day.

One of the main reasons for your night time waking has had to be the two little teeth coming in on the bottom. They popped through on the first of May and grow bigger and bigger each day- much like the goodies in our spring garden. I am sad to see the toothless grin go away, something about that gummy little grin is so special. I am savoring each of these milestones so much...

You aren't nearly as noisy as your brother was or is, but wipe your snotty nose and LOOK OUT! you make a sound as if I were pulling out all of your hair and toenails. Other fun sounds included, Da-da-da-da an occasional mamamama, as well as squeals and squawks of delight while you play on the floor in the playroom, crawl around underfoot in the kitchen or when you first wake up in the morning.

You tap out beats against the high chair tray and laugh really hard at your brother while we eat dinner or breakfast together. One of my favorite things you do is while you are dozing off to sleepy land, you sing/hum a little tune. I love that and wonder what in the world you could be singing about.

We love you fluffy haired girl. You are our little dandelion, spreading your sunshine with every smile. Happy 8 months.