8 Months

Okay, now things are going a little fast for us! It seems like Landon is changing daily now. Overall, he seems to be working on making his movements more deliberate. And, he is developing such a cute personality!


The biggest change for the eighth month has to be his attitude. He has been so much happier this month. Even when he was suffering through his first cold. We were so scared that he would be really cranky, but the only thing that upset him was the dreaded “nose hose.” We’ve had our “grumpus” days, but all in all his daily normal now is to laugh and play and holler! He always returns any smile or laugh with one that is even more enthusiastic and heartwarming. And his new favorite thing to do is to kiss on the cheek! It is often slobbery, sometimes hard and aggressive, frequently ends in a little bite, but always so so sweet! He is becoming quite the social butterfly.


The solid foods situation has greatly improved. It’s just as if one day a little switch was turned on. He actually seems to really enjoy everything. Well okay, not everything. Hard boiled egg yolk did not go over very well. Fresh banana in the mesh bag seems to be the stand out favorite. He even enthusiastically eats his cereals (rice, oatmeal and barley). As you are stirring the food in the little dish and testing it for temperature, his little tongue starts moving and his mouth opens. The warmer the food the better and faster he eats it. That is somewhat of an annoyance, but you can’t have everything. It’s as if his little throat cramps up if anything cool tries to go down it! The enthusiasm for drinking water out of a cup has definitely waned. Most days he won’t even take one sip--he clamps his lips shut so tight that not a single drop can pass through! We are excited to try the second stage baby foods and give him more table foods, like yogurt and meats. We’ll see what funny faces those produce!


Crawling still seems to be a distant goal. Some days he shows signs of grasping the concept. He’ll either get the knees up and moving but not the arms, or vice versa. The majority of the time if he really wants something he sees on the floor (usually Colby’s gross slobbery ball, or the TiVo remote) he will do a modified movement, that we call his “wounded soldier drag.”

The two teeth he got in early July are still the only inhabitants. We keep expecting some new little buds, but nothing so far.


Landon also has a growing pile of toys (OK, not a pile, his Mommy has them neatly arranged in a basket), which he loves to play with, but not with each for very long, hence the need for an ever-growing pile! There is always a different toy a few feet away that is much more interesting than the boring one in his hands, but the interest only lasts until he gets a hold of the new toy! Some of his current favorites are; his activity triangle, stacking rings(the classic Fisher-Price one), Monkey Friends Tote, and of course books!


We have started using sign language with him. We don’t know a lot of signs yet, but we’ve been signing to him that we’re going to pick him up or to ask him if he’s “all done”, “wants more”, wants to “drink,” “eat,” that we “love Landon”, etc. Sometimes it is difficult to get him looking in our direction so he can see our signing (he’s always interested in looking off at something else), and we’re not sure that it’s making much of an impact on him yet, but he does seem to react positively when we ask him if he wants “Daddy” or “Mommy” to “pick up” “Landon”. His favorite sign is “Colby”, but probably only because it involves sticking out our tongues and panting!


We can't wait to see what the nine month brings!