James at 8 Months

Happy 8 months little buddy!

James turned 8 months old this past Saturday – time flies, etc., etc.  For real though…

Eating

This little guy loves to eat!

He’ll eat pretty much anything at this point, but his favorites include apple cinnamon oatmeal, avocado, sweet potato, pear, and watermelon.  He also likes yogurt, ground beef, and salmon.

He is increasingly able to eat modified versions of what we eat (for example, ground beef with spinach and cheese last night when we ate tostadas), which is great for me!

He eats three meals a day now.  I find that lunch time is the best time to introduce something new, as he is the most alert and energized for this meal.  He is occasionally uninterested in dinner and just throws his food on the floor, but he usually eats well.

I plan to post some of his favorite recipes soon!

Gross Motor

The big change this month was that James started army crawling at 7 1/2 months!

I wasn’t sure if he would bother with crawling since he was so good at getting around by rolling, but he’s army crawling all around the house now, and also getting up on his hands and knees and rocking, so I suspect real crawling is not far off.

He can also almost sit up from laying down, he just keeps one hand on the floor.

This is funny to me since he still usually won’t sit if I sit him up – he is on his own little timeline and I love it.

Fine Motor

I observe the most changes in his fine motor skills through watching him eat.  He can now pick up fairly small pieces of food, using his thumb and two fingers, though he can’t always get them into his mouth.  He also has so much control now when holding his little glass to drink water.  He is so focused when he does this, it is amazing to watch.

Sleep*

James very reliably wakes up once per night to eat, between 3-4:00 AM and then goes back to sleep until six or seven.  I may try to wean him off of this middle of the night meal…but I may not.  It’s honestly by far the best he eats all day, as there are no distractions and he’s half asleep.  He’s often too curious and busy to be bothered with nursing for more than a couple of minutes during the day.

We have had great progress with naps just in the last week or so (I had a hard time typing that…don’t want to jinx it!).  I’m going to write a separate post on this, but things are FINALLY looking up!

*I wrote this last week and have to say James slept HORRIBLY when we were in Houston last week!  He woke up many times at night and I was so, so tired.  Thank goodness though, he has been back to normal the past two nights we’ve been back home.  I was getting worried!

Size

I don’t know how much he weighs / how long he is as he hasn’t had a doctor’s appointment since 6 months, but he is looking huge!  When he woke up yesterday, his big toe was poking through his 9 month pajamas….

He is a long little guy with some big baby feet!  We got him some 12 month clothes last week and they are fitting scarily well….

Personality

Oh my goodness, he is such a happy and charismatic guy.

I’m not sure at what age it usually develops, but he definitely does not show any fear of strangers at the moment.

While in Houston last week, I brought him to the school where my mom and sister teach several times.  The children were so sweet and respectful, but he was still basically swarmed by enthusiastic 9-12 year olds wanting to play with him all at once.  He took it in stride, giving big smiles, and crawling over to check out shoe laces and other interesting objects.

He is happiest when he is either outside, watching people (especially big kids), watching cars, or freely moving around and playing.

He also loves music and literally lights up when I start singing certain familiar songs.  His favorite toys right now are balls and a set of stacking cups he has.

He loves rolling them around (both the balls and the cups) and chasing them around the room.  He also tries to drink out of the cups, even though they’re always empty.  The world must seem so confusing.

He seems to be getting his first tooth, so I hope that doesn’t impact his happiness too much in the coming weeks!

This little guy amazes me every day and I am so happy to be his mama 🙂