My sweet baby Hank at 8 months old is.........
*Loving solid food. As bad as I've been about documenting his life on paper, I've made up for it in food. He's the first of my babies who I've actually committed and pretty much followed through with making most of his baby food from scratch. I don't know if this gives him any advantage other than he loves to eat every last bite of his fruits and vegetables, but I enjoy doing it and I don't find it as challenging or time sucking as I thought it might have been.
*Siting up like a champ! He started sitting up around 6 months old, and I've been enjoying the sit and stay put baby for two months until.......
*Crawling like a man on a mission. Just two days ago, he decided to celebrate his turning 8 months ols by learning to crawl. He's been rocking back and forth on all fours for a while now, so I knew it was coming, and here we are! I no longer have a sit and stay where I put you baby. He's my earliest crawler of the 4.
*Loving his brother and sisters. Any and all attention he can get from them is encouraged with big smiles and squeals. Ben, in particular, is a favorite, and while Ben can have moments of pure big brother evil, he is usually very tender and loving with his baby brother.
*Sleeping through the night basically. About two months ago he started sleeping through. He still often wakes for a bottle around 5 a.m. but then will usually go back to bed for an hour or two. He also recently dropped the 3rd nap, which I was pretty glad to see go. Because of that nap drop, though, he is usually in bed and asleep between 5:30 and 6 pm.
*Loving drumming and clapping. He can't drum or clap yet, but his favorite past time is to watch us drum a book or a table or to clap for him. These two things make him very happy.
*Saying "dada" and "bahbah." We are still working on "mama." ;)
* Growing slowly. He's long and lean, and sometimes it's a battle to get him to take 24 ounces in a day. He's never been a big eater, which was the source of much of my anxiety while breast-feeding. Now I know that it wasn't me, it was him. Wish I had known that little fact sooner!
*Lacking teeth. He still has a toothless smile, and I'm loving it as long as I can.
(all photos by Katielee Photography)
