Monday, October 21, 2013

8 Months Development & Milestones


8 Months & Counting...

I think this has been one of the most significant months so far for mental development in terms of Asher starting to understand the things going on around him and what we are saying to him. His personality continues to emerge and his mind grows by the hour - or by the minute! He is having more and more "attached" moments. He is still a genuinely happy baby, eager to learn, generous with laughs, and sweet to the core. He's developed a crooked little smile, ripe with mischief. 

8 Month Milestones

  • Still "dragging" himself along the floor, but now with Nascar speed!
  • Can sit up on his own (and does so in his crib in protest of sleep)
  • Can pick up and feed himself little snack puffs
  • Responds to (and sometimes listens to) "no"
  • Asher certainly has his preferences now and makes them known, i.e. favorite books and toys
  • Likes to "share" his binky with both me and John. He'll take it out and offer it to us. We politely decline the sweet gesture but applaud his willingness to share!
  • Mimics sounds
  • Uses his fat little pointer finger all day long!


Fun Times

Asher loves to chase the vacuum if he is on the floor. He's fast enough to catch it, too! He's very good at spotting any missed specks on the tile and likes to announce when he's found one by pointing to it with his chubby little finger and yelling, "ugghhhhh ugghhhhh!". Thanks for lookin' out, little guy!






BABY SIGNING UPDATE

Asher still doesn't consistently use sign language, but I know he is absorbing it and understands much of what I sign to him. He even is on the lookout for new signs - i.e. I showed him a lion on his pajamas by pointing to the lion and saying "lion". He looked at me, then the lion, then to my hands waiting to see the sign, which to his disappointment, I didn't know! 

We've introduced lots of new signs throughout the past few weeks including "diaper change", "share", "brush teeth", "light", "airplane", "car", "bus", "duck" or "bird", "outside", "shoes", "socks", "friend", "hungry" and several more. Asher now signs "ball" when prompted for a game of rolling his ball around. We just work them into our everyday interaction with him.  I'm trying my best to stay consistent, which has been the hardest part of the baby sign language process.  I need to work on my sign language vocabulary so that I can show him new signs when he seems interested to learn them, such as the situation with the lion! 


TEETHING

We have 6 teeth! Six! Can you believe how quickly these little buggers just pop out of nowhere? The two top/front teeth are slowly making their way down and 3 front/bottom teeth are almost completely up with 1 more trailing behind. No more gummy smiles around here! We teefin!


Bros.


PLAY & SUCH

It's pretty much official now that our house is a baby house. By that I mean that the furniture is not aesthetically positioned anymore so that we could contain Asher in a specific area and allow for more space to play, the rug that I hated is now back because it's soft and bigger for more play area, no matter how often I pick up, it seems to remain a constant mess, we've added another baby gate to the picture... the perfectionist inside is a little unsettled but, hey, what are you going to do? I just keep reminding myself that what is important right now is not a perfectly coordinated living room or lack of clutter on our counters. What's important is our baby, our family, and our sanity, even if that means a messy house from time to time. Or all the time. 


SLEEP

I dream of the nights when Asher would sleep from 8pm-8am without so much as a peep from his cozy little bassinet, then I am awoken by the cries from his crib at 12am, 4am, 6am or 8am reminding me that those days indeed are gone. 

Even with the multiple wakings a night, we had a nice bedtime routine going on for awhile, but then Asher got sick from a brief stint with daycare and a sniffly little 10-month old named Andrew, and now our bedtime routine has been disrupted, smashed, broken, and crushed to smithereens. 

I'm not bitter about it at all, though. 

As always, we will get through!


8 Down, 4 To Go...

We had no idea 8 months ago just what we were in for. We didn't know that this warm little swaddled bundle would soon shift and consume our entire lives, our decisions, our thoughts, our plans, and our photo libraries. But it happened and we are (tickled blue?) to be immersed in this new world.

I guess this is when we start planning the first b-day bash, huh? Oh, goodness. Pinterest, here I come!


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2 comments:

  1. So glad to find your blog!! Asher is adorable!! My little man is 16 months, and it just gets more and more fun :)))

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  2. Oh my goodness look how big he is getting! Such a beautiful little man he is :-) I love his fair skin.

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