Happy 8 Months!

Happy 8 Months SS!

Here are some random facts about our 8-month old:

This month SS sat up unassisted for the first time! He is still pretty unsteady and isn't sitting up on his own to play yet, but we can feel his core muscles getting stronger and stronger.

SS is in the midst of learning to wave - when you wave at him he will lift his hand or wiggle his fingers - you can see him starting to put the pieces together.



I know for sure that SS understands the word "kiss". I started suspecting that SS was kissing us back when he was about 5 months old and would open his mouth when I gave him a kiss. This month SS started grabbing the hair on either side of my face to pull me in towards his waiting open, drooly mouth which he mashes on mine - and if I say "Give me kisses" or something like that, he leans in open-mouthed and plants a wet (open-mouthed) one on me. So I know that he comprehends "kiss" - and it's a fitting first word for this physically affectionate little guy to understand.

The television remote is like his Holy Grail - he is oh-so-fixated on getting it into his mouth.

This month this boo boo started holding his own bottle, which is a conveniently timed development, as he gets a bottle a lot more often these days now that he drinks formula in addition to breastmilk. SS prefers his formula to have at least some breastmilk mixed in, but takes the formula straight-up more and more willingly. (Initially he wouldn't take a formula bottle from me at all, only J, but now when he sees a bottle he gets anxious and grabby and "get in my mouth!"-y, no matter who it's coming from (and even if it's not his!)).

And this month SS let out his first real giggles. Before now, SS has squealed and cooed and made other joyful noises that seemed like laughter and were timed like laughter but really just couldn't qualify as full-on laughs. But this month, while under a tickle attack, some bonafide giggles erupted out of this baby boy.

SS is becoming increasingly mobile. In addition to rolling, he started using his arms to drag or turn his body, mostly on the slick wood laminate.

For a week this month SS became really distracted while eating, unlatching and turning his head side to side at the slightest noises, gazing around rooms as though he'd never seen them before - his eyes were bright and alert, and while watching him I realized that his vision had expanded! So he was observing things he hadn't been able to see before.

GG surprised us with a visit on SS's 8-Month Birthday

Ridiculously Overdue Recap: Christmas (Eve) Cookies

Oh, that's right, it's March and I am still talking about Christmas.

Our boys were sick when J's fam got together to decorate Christmas cookies, but I still really wanted to decorate cookies so our little family decided to do it on Christmas Eve day.
(In all of my Type-A glory, I had made a list (obviously) of all the Christmas activities I wanted to do and then listed off dates we could potentially do these activities - I was actually excited when this one got bumped to Christmas Eve day because it seemed like a perfect way to celebrate this sort-of-holiday.)

BB helped make the frosting




Adding food coloring




Watching the frosting change color




Finally decorating cookies
(I bought cookie dough to cut out some stress)

Showing off his Christmas Cookie




(SS was napping)

And here are all of our awesome cookies!
J's are always the best - there's a Tucson Snowman (covered in dirt and rocks), and the best is at the bottom, the "Away in a Manger" cookie



Dressed up for the Christmas Eve service at church later that evening

After the Christmas Eve service, we went to J's sister's neighborhood, Winterhaven, which is famous in Tucson for it's Christmas lights. We just walked one street, but it was still fun.

Here's BB being the moose you can see in the background :)

Monkey

mealtime monkey face

Sidenote: I wanted to call this post "Oooh ooh ooh AH AH AH" - you know, like, monkey noises - but all typed out like that it could be easily misconstrued... :)

Ridiculously Overdue Recap: 2 1/2 Years Old (at the end of November)

***So I started writing this waaaaaay back in November, and even though the post is totally incomplete and it's over 3 months later, I still think it's worth posting***

At 2 1/2 years old, BB's speech is so developed - he's talking in full sentences. BB tells us what he wants and what he likes. He's becoming a person. Honestly, I wish I could just live stream him constantly, because capturing who he is with words on a screen feels so futile. He's passionate, and funny, and determined, and enthusiastic, and sweet, and so, so smart, and has all these cute little language nuances. And I've done nothing to teach him not to talk in the third person.

Mama: "When we get home we'll have some of that pizza for lunch."

BB: "Uhhhh, BB is all-done."

Mama: "You're not hungry? What about some grapes? Do you want some grapes?"

BB: "Uhh, BB want some gapes."

Mama: "Okay, we'll have some grapes and some pizza when we get home."

BB: "Just gapes. No pizza."

We are still somewhere in the middle of the process of potty training. My new strategy is to try to have him sit on the potty for a little while and read some books every day before nap, since he often poops once he's relaxing before he falls asleep. He has had success a couple of times so far. (Current Life Update: Um, there's really no update. :) That's not totally true - he will use the potty anytime I take him, and he wears a pull-up except for nap and bedtime. The trouble is that he (mostly) doesn't tell us he needs to potty, we have to initiate almost every time. And he's not interested in stopping playing to potty. So us parents still need potty-training :/).

His first-born traits are many and obvious, one of which is that he likes things orderly. One night waaaaaay after bedtime, we heard noise from his room, and we went in and found this:

BB had sorted and orderly arranged his blocks. Such a little engineer.


Here's how he lounged in bed while we marveled over his block arrangements.

I love my big boy!

***Okay, totally incomplete post, but I'm rolling with it!***

Ridiculously Overdue Recap: Jolly Jammies (and other Christmas Clothes)

SS's First Christmas outfit


This is BB's hat from his dedication on Christmas Eve in 2009 - I love seeing it on SS!

Dressed up for the Christmas Eve service at church

Matchy Christmas jammies from GG! (These also came with a personalized pillowcase for BB!)

The big cuteness of these jammies is that they are personalized with the boy's names - but here in Top-Secret-Name-Land (also known as: I-Will-Not-Enable-You-To-Kidnap-My-Adorable-Kids-Land (also known as: Paranoid-Mommy-Land)) I had to blur out the names. Just imagine a big white SS above Rudolph and a red BB where his left shirt pocket would be - adorbs!

"Saaywy"

BB drew this in church - Do you see how the dinosaur has a body? And eyes? And maybe a mouth or teeth? I was so impressed!
BB actually really, really likes dinosaurs - he is just in a stage where he likes and wants everything to be "saaywy" - scary. When we made the heart-shaped Valentines BB insisted that the shark and the snakes "hava be saaywy!" He is such a boy.