While my Mom was visiting with us recently, Liam turned 8 months old. We had a great visit with Grandma Pam.
Before turning eight months, he was pulling up on everything in sight. At exactly 8 months, he has let go a few times, but just plops to the floor. He seems to be better with balancing the last week or so. He doesn't seem to have any fear. When he falls and his head hits the ground, he seems unfazed.
He also learned how to wave. He puts his hand up in the air and moves his fingers back and forth. Within the past few days, he seems to have forgotten how to wave, though. I recall this type of thing happening with Ava, too, where they learn how to do something and then forget the skill for a few days. Kind of funny how that works.
Liam is a BIG boy. I'm not sure how much he weighs right now, but he is entirely solid! And heavy to carry! It's quite a feat just walking up the stairs from day care toting Liam, his bag, anything Ava might not be interested in carrying, possibly my laptop bag (if I went into the office), etc.
He continues to eat well. One of his day care teachers comments on how well he eats, saying it's a good thing because he won't be "sickly" when he is teenage. Not sure about that correlation, but if it's true, he definitely won't be sick! He eats three times a day with some small snacks in between. He really enjoys diced vegetables or fruit. Our monthly grocery bill has been a bit more now that he's on regular food! I would say his favorite thing to eat is blueberries, which I smash slightly so they won't lodge in his throat. He seems to do well eating most food by hand. And this buys me time to get other things done! :-)
His smile continues to melt my heart. He likes to give me a huge open-mouth slobbery kiss on my cheek or nose often. He is trying to communicate lately and lets out these loud "aaaaah!'"s quite often. He really seems interested in other kids / babies and tries to communicate with them. Lately he has been extremely fidgety. If he is awake, he's moving! This makes him that much more difficult to hold!
It's interesting to see what toys he chooses. He seems to pick any hammer or ball when playing. The minute I set him down on the floor, he goes for electrical cords or a remote. I find this pretty interesting as Ava wasn't interested in either of them at all! I do recall babysitting Ava's buddy Mekhi and noticing he was also more interested in cords. Must be a little boy thing!
He is completely content and is so low-maintenance! He likes to play in Ava's kitchen and pull-up to the counter. When he is standing up, you can tell he thinks he is "big stuff" and flashes the cutest grin. He can almost walk behind a little walking toy, but the toy ends up rolling too fast and gets away from him. So he walks across the living room on his knees, hands on the handle, constantly trying to stand-up behind this toy. It's pretty funny.
He still doesn't technically crawl. He gets there, though! He does this belly-flop motion / breakdancing worm crawl to get where he wants to go. I don't think he will ever crawl in the standard sense. He has recently started crawling with one knee and keeps using his other leg's foot, as if he's going to stand up. I'm not sure he'll ever figure-out that he can use both knees at once!
One of his latest endeavors.... He likes to pull ALL the books off of the bookshelf we have of children's books. The contents of the lowest two shelves end-up in a pile under him, on the floor. When he is doing this, it almost looks as if he is looking for a specific book, but not finding it. I guess he's probably wishing we had more books about trucks and bugs (or maybe electrical cords and remotes?). :-)
When I put him to bed, I try to rock him and sing two songs to him before putting him in his crib. He gets pretty fidgety after 30 seconds of rocking / singing, so I end-up putting him into his crib. He sleeps through the night well, going to bed at 8 p.m. (or before) and waking up around 7 a.m. He continues to take three naps a day (or two lengthy naps).
I'm looking forward to the Spring! Liam LOVES being outside. He likes for me to run after Ava while holding him in the back yard. I can tell that he is anxious to be able to move himself and run after Ava. Little does she know what's in store for her! :-)
We love you Liam, and feel blessed by your sweet smiles and kisses!
Peace, love and the one-kneed crawl,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
