8 Months

Grace turned 8 months old on Friday. She's such a big girl now. I absolutely love this age. She's so social and happy. She is easy to get a smile or giggle out of and everyone who comes in contact with her mentions either her cuteness or how good she is. I would think I'm biased, but I seriously get comments from perfect strangers all the time, so she must actually be really cute.

Anyway, despite what I've been saying for weeks, Grace is still not crawling. I would say she definately will be by 9 months...but, I don't want to jinx us. She gets on her hands and knees often and rocks back in forth, but she hasn't made real forward progress. I would consider her mobile. She can get into about anything and is all over the room. She is becoming increasingly vocal. She loves to say "ma-ma", but says it all the time, so I don't think she's calling for me. She likes the sound of her own voice and uses it often and loudly. One of her new favorite times to chat is 5:00 a.m. She usually goes back to sleep until a reasonable time afterwords. She likes to stand up all the time and likes to bang on everything. Anything to make noise.

Our biggest milestone this month is a new tooth! This is very recent. I was out of town on Thursday and Friday, but Eric pointed it out to me on Saturday. You couldn't see it, but when you feel her gum it's very sharp. Today, you can see the tip of it poking out. It's broken the skin, but not all the way above the gum yet. She keeps sticking her tounge out to feel it.

Here's the milestones we've reached for 8 Months based on "What To Expect The First Year." The bold items we have reached.

By the end of the Eighth Month your baby:

...should be able to:
- bear some weight on legs when held upright
- Feed self a cracker
- Pass a cube or object from one hand to the other
- rake a raisin and pick it up in a fist
- Turn in the direction of a voice
- Look for a dropped object

...will probably be able to:
- stand holding on to someone or something
- Object if you try to take a toy away
- Work to get a toy out of reach
- play peekaboo (So cute! She even initiates the game now.)
- get into a sitting position from stomach

...may possibly be able to:
- pull up to standing position from sitting
- Pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger
- say mama or dada indescriminately

...may even be able to:
- Play Patty-Cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye
- walk holding on to furniture
- stand alone momentarily
- understand the word no (but not always obey it)