Eight Months

I swear Catherine gets cuter and more fun every day.  I love this stage of baby-hood!

At eight months old, Catherine is:

*hungry.  All the time.  She would eat four solid meals a day if I'd let her.  I've started giving her some pureed big people food and some yogurt in hopes that she'll get enough calories.  Because otherwise I'll spend all day just feeding her!

*insisting on feeding herself.  She's really good at eating her puffy cereal foods and Mum Mums without any help.  As for the real food--I can usually distract her by giving her another spoon for her to chew on.  Usually.

*willing to eat anything provided I mix enough corn in it.  She's actually getting pretty good at eating (and enjoying) her veggies.

*addicted to bananas in her mesh feeder.  If she catches a glimpse of it, she whines like crazy until I give it to her.  If I take it away to put more banana in it, she yells at me.  If I put anything besides banana in there, I am in BIG TROUBLE.  She can eat an entire banana in one meal.

*somewhere in between 2 and 3 naps.  Her naps are lengthening (sometimes), but she's so easy-going that I don't care if she skips the last one.

*still not quite sitting up 100%.  I've decided our kids are hindered by our hardwood floors on the main level.

*clapping.  And pretty dang proud of herself, too.  She loves that she can recognize the word 'clap' and respond correctly.

*rolling over both directions and squirming all around.  She's really good at moving backward.  Still working on forward...

*enjoying her walker.  Thank you, Sommer, for letting us borrow yours again!

*wearing size 2 diapers, somewhere between 6 and 6-9 month clothing (although there are a few 3-6 month holdouts still lingering in the drawers).

*sleeping from 7:30 pm to 4:30 am, then back to sleep until 7:15 am or so.  Although lately she's tried getting up at 6:30 am.  NOT. HAPPENING.

*capable of put her own pacifier back in her mouth (she's actually been doing this for a few months now, but I keep forgetting to mention it).

*singing and talking to herself most of the day.  If she's happy, she sings and shrieks to herself for 15-20 minutes straight.

*very, very good at making her wishes known.  Jon & I were talking the other night about how odd it is to realize that she can't actually talk--she can tell us EXACTLY what she wants with no words at all.  Oh, the Princess...

*babbling.  When she's happy it's 'da da da da da'.  When she's mad/sad/hungry/angry it's 'Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!'.  Guess which one means 'Mom'?

*cutting her top two (?) teeth.  From the few times I've been able to stick my fingers in her mouth without getting chomped on, I can feel that they are REALLY close.  Which explains some of the grumpiness lately.

*grabbing EVERYTHING.  Holding her is getting difficult because she spends so much time lunging for things as we pass.

We love you, little bug!  Thank you for making us smile every day!