Dear Andrew,

Happy eight months! 2/3 of your first year has passed, and we’re marching ever onward as you are getting bigger and stronger and smarter and handsomer…. and screechier, and squinchier.

For the past month we’ve found a feeding schedule that works for everybody and keeps you gaining weight. Just in time, of course, to change it all up again. You’re getting better with finger foods and pretty soon we’ll be giving you more snacks, a third meal, and a wider variety of foods. It’s crazy to think that you’ll actually be eating normal foods and we’ll be responsible for making sure you are eating well and staying healthy. It’s just another feature of your rapidly-expanding realm of life in this world. We’ll do the best we can to help you through it!

It seems that every day you are looking more like a boy-kid and less like an infant. Although I tell you often that you’re still Mommy’s Baby, it’s amazing how quickly you’re changing. One day you’ll wear a shirt with a monster truck on it and cargo shorts… and you’ll look TOO grownup, so the next day I’ll make sure you wear a pastel-colored onesie that says “Baby Boy”. Sometimes you’ll do something new – like sitting in a restaurant high chair, or a shopping cart, which you do now! – and you’ll look so small that I’ll feel a little bit relieved. You may be too big for your swing and quickly growing to the biggest setting in the jumperoo, but you still look tiny in a shopping cart. It’s a trifle but I’ll take it.

I think you’re getting more hair, but it still behaves so well that it’s NEVER messy! I can’t resist messing it up sometimes when it’s wet, just because it’s cute. The other day I spiked your hair in the bath and left it when you went to sleep, so you woke up with crazy little pieces sticking up. Daddy, of course, said it was messy and combed it with some water… and that was the first time you ever had a real little-boy hairdo. Absolutely adorable.

I do miss your tiny baby days, but your personality makes life a great deal more fun. You have a “squinchy face” that you make when you’re hamming, you love to smile for the camera, and you screech whenever you’re bored or tired or just generally grumpy. While you mastered sitting up last month, this month you’re impatient with sitting up and would much rather get MOVING. If you sit for too long, you’ll start rocking crazily until you fall over (and bonk your head, and cry, of course) because it’s easier to be mobile lying down. You can’t crawl just yet, but you realize there’s SOMETHING that’ll make it happen, and you wiggle yourself into every position imagineable trying to achieve it. You’re now able to get up on your hands and knees, your hands and toes, and you still roll everywhere. You clearly just want to master getting around.

What’s also fun is that you’re starting to be a lot more observant of your surroundings, and we can “show” you things. You hear everything – the garage door opening, the garbage truck outside, even me tiptoeing past your room in the morning. This week was the first thunderstorm we’ve had this summer and we took you outside, where you were captivated by the sight and sound and feel of the rain. You’re becoming more interested in books and you love watching whatever we’re doing in the kitchen. Being able to share our world is a huge and fulfilling part of being a parent, and it’s amazing how cool it is!

You still have only two teeth, you still love songs and singing, and you still have zero stranger anxiety and will socialize happily with anybody. You’re startled by loud, sudden noises, but otherwise you’re a tough little kid and nothing much bothers you.

It should be quite an adventure to discover what you’re doing by this time next month. We keep hoping it includes consonant sounds like “ma” and “ba” and maybe even “da”, so we’ll keep waiting.

We love you so much, Stinky P.

Love,
Mommy

(Month Seven)
(Month Six) (Month Five) (Month Four)
(Month Three) (Month Two) (Month One)