Rosie turned 8 months old last Tuesday- and as usual - she seems to have waited for that milestone mark (everything seems a milestone these days) to have some new and exciting developments. Her second tooth finally broke through, she started “officially” crawling, and she is now pulling herself up to stand. So, lots of new changes - which was accompanied with lots of fussiness, clinginess, and not a lot of sleeping…
With her one tooth just showing when she smiles - she looks like a hillbilly - its so funny!
One bad thing about teeth is she has taken to biting occasionally while nursing - I am trying to make her realize this is not acceptable by loudly exclaiming “OW!” (which is the sound one normally makes when sharp baby teeth meet a sensitive nipple) - and give her a stern look and immediately end the nursing session for at least a few minutes - before giving her a chance to nurse again. So far there have only been a couple bites - and hopefully there will not be much more to come. She has also been smacking her lips lately when nursing - she will nurse for a few minutes and then pull away and smack her lips a few times - and then go back to nursing - it is so cute!
We had nakey play time the other day in the kitchen - she thought it was so fun to be naked that she decided to pee - twice - on the hardwood floors! But I learned that she gets a little agitated and fussy right before she goes to the bathroom - so that might come in handy when it is time to potty train.
We haven’t seen our awesome family doctor since she was 3 1/2 months - and I am thinking of making an appointment in the next couple weeks - just as a check up and to weigh her and make sure all is well. It is just nice to get reassurance sometimes from an expert that your baby is as brilliant and perfect as you think.
As an 8 month old- Rosie is still babbling up a storm - still mostly dadada or ada- aaah - when I try to get her to say mama - she just thinks that sound is hilarious and laughs at me - and she has been squealing a lot- very vocal. She thinks she is so clever - she crawls everywhere - frequently under the coffee table and then she gets stuck and gets frustrated when she bumps her head trying to crawl out… She has been pretty good at entertaining herself lately - though I need to be in the room and watching her and reacting to her or she gets fussy. She loves this little ladybug drum Aunt Pauline got her - and remote controls and pens - and she loves to shred paper and napkins and her new favorite toy is the empty plastic bag from the diaper wipes. While I was making lunch today - she was content to play on the kitchen floor with a tupperware lid and a piece of uncooked elbow macaroni she found on the floor (oops - guess I should sweep).
Her sleep is still something to work on - she needs nursing and/or bouncing (usually a combination of both) to actually get to sleep (unless she is in the car) and once she is asleep - she wakes easily for the first couple hours (nursing often) before she falls finally into a deep sleep. Even in her deep sleep - it is hard to get my nipple free - she wants to have it in her mouth at all times - rarely can I get any solid sleep without being attached physically to her. We are going to experiment with Joe putting her to sleep at night - with the hopes that he can get her to sleep without nursing - and then maybe she won’t need to be nursing all through the night - then - once that has been accomplished - we can work on weaning her from needing to be bounced to sleep. We have to do something because my hips and back have been KILLING me from having to sleep in an uncomfortable side lying position all night while nursing.
As frustrating and tiring as it is being a mother - there are still those times when I look at her sleeping next to me and I can’t believe she is mine and I wouldn’t change anything - even if it means never getting a good night’s sleep ever again.
