8 Months Old

Our baby girl is growing and learning so fast that we can hardly believe it. She is 8 months old today. Over the last month, specifically the past two weeks, Gracie has really hit some major milestones!

Probably the biggest milestone that she hit last Tuesday (April 14th) was crawling. It all happened so fast that I can't even really remember it, which is sad. The week before, she suddenly was able to go from laying to sitting and within a week she was mobile. This week she is working on crawling further distances (she can go about 15 feet or so with ease and proper motivation...for example the computer or other electronic device within sight). Tonight she was constantly pulling herself to a standing position on everything she could...just in time to start using her bar to pull up on, which Ryan installed tonight!

Gracie is also advancing in her language skills recently. The Thursday before Easter (April 9th), she said "dada" (with meaning), and in church on Easter Sunday (April 12th) she said mama and reached for me.

Another huge milestone that Gracie hit on Friday, April 10th, was her first tooth. Her second tooth popped through on Saturday, April 18th. She now has a beautiful, while still tiny pair of pearly whites on the bottom in the front. And boy does she enjoy figuring out all the uses for those chompers!

Things we're working on or she can already do:

Sings...la, ya, mmm, nuh, buh, hhmmm...
Loves to play any game, even ones with no name
Enjoys being tickled
Shakes her head no
Has said "no" twice
Working on Eskimo Kisses
Loves music and is starting to dance a little
Bangs on everything or bangs everything together
Pulls up on things to stand
Working on her pincer grasp...she's just getting started, but has begun to figure it out
Signs "milk" consistently...we're still working on "more" and a few other signs
Has pretty well perfected whining....we're working on breaking that. She gets the concept of using signs or words instead, but just has so much to say that she can't quite get out yet.
Started crying when we leave the room...not a desirable skill, but pretty developmentally appropriate
Loves to study movement and people in general. She'll listen to anyone talking for a long time
Handed me a book today and wanted me to read it (Global Babies)
Had her first temper tantrum last week, because she only wanted to eat cottege cheese for dinner. Mommy quickly adopted new eating tactics from Aunt Connie ;-) Gross foods first, good foods last.

Likes:

Her thumb
Her toes (trying to eat them!)
Other kids
Attention
Music
Books (especially animal books and rhyming books)
Swings
Drinking from a cup
Water
Cheerios or other crunchy snack
Avocado (50% of the time)
Cheese, any kind

Dislikes:

Being left alone in a room
Not getting exactly what she wants, when she wants it
Socks and shoes

New things Gracie has done over the past month:

Cherry Blossom Festival
Celebrated Easter

New foods Gracie has tried:

cheese (cottage cheese and hard cheeses)
wheat
carrots
green beans
zucchini
potatoes
peaches
cantaloupe
juice
frozen yogurt