Our Mr. Mister is 8 months old!
As I alluded to above, Brooks loves to move. When he is out and about, he army crawls, rolls, and maneuvers his way around. When he is strapped in his car seat, stroller, or high chair, he is constantly flailing his arms or wiggling his legs. Like most babies, he LOVES attention. He giggles, squeals, and squeaks until he has your undivided attention. When he is not getting the attention that he feels he deserves, he will cry, whine, or scream until you look at him...Then he flashes his adorable, gummy smile! This boy is also loving table food. He has to be eating when others are eating around him or else he throws a fit. If it's not bottle time or baby food time, then I give him bits and pieces of our meal. He gobbles it up as fast as I can put it on his plate, then begs for more! I hope he is always a good eater! Brooks still likes to take strolls in the stroller, and riding in the car seat. He is still addicted to the pacifier, and I am starting to dread weaning him off that as much as I dread getting his big sister off her thumb! We learned on our road trip and Florida vacation that Brooks LOVES to swim! When he gets in the water, he slaps at the water and kicks his legs THE.ENTIRE.TIME! It is awesome. He works so hard for so long that he ends up breathing really hard and you can feel his heart racing! Dare I say we have the next Michael Phelps on our hands! :) His love for the water has carried over to bath time as well. There is a lot of splashing, squealing, and playing on his part! His favorite toys right now are books (to chew on), balls, balloons, anything that makes loud, obnoxious noises, and shoes (again to chew on...gross!) His favorite foods right now seem to be any kind of fruit. And I think his favorite person is now Kylie (over me)! He adores watching her play, talking to her, and being close to her!
There are also several things that Brooksie clearly does not like. As I mentioned, he does not like to be left alone or not receive attention. He doesn't like to be the only one who isn't eating. He gets frustrated when he can't reach a desired toy. When he is frustrated he will slap at the ground with both hands! He will also make it obvious that he is displeased with lots of screams and shrieks. It's slightly unpleasant!
Brooks is changing so fast, and reaching milestone after milestone. It seems like he learns a new gross motor skill every day. He is not full on crawling yet, but he will take two or three crawling steps before dropping to his tummy to army crawl the rest of the way to his destination. He can sit independently, and push up to a sitting position. He has mastered the downward dog, and seems to enjoy looking around from this position! I am working very hard to capture this in a picture, but every time I try, he has moved on before I can get the camera ready. His fine motor skills seem to be coming along too. He is working on his pincer, and gets lots of practice with the table foods. He brings every thing to his mouth, objects big and small...Time to baby proof again! His language skills are developing as well. During the last month, he has started to make some consonant sounds. He does "ga ga" and "da da" very well. I'm working extremely hard on "ma ma." It took Kylie 15 or so months before she said it, so I'm really hoping Brooks will give me the pleasure much sooner! Brooks is currently teething again, which has made him (as I'm sure it would make anyone) a little edgy. He is working on his top two front teeth...They are just about to break through. I'm pretty sure they are going to be some big chompers! It will change his whole appearance quite a bit, I think. He is becoming a better sleeper, though I say that now during nap time and I can hear him whining when he is supposed to be sleeping. Anyway, he is generally sleeping 11-12 hours at night, from about 8pm-7/8am. He takes a morning nap from about 9:30am-10:30/11am, and an afternoon nap from about 1:30-3/3:30pm. He is taking four bottles per day at 8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm. Each bottle is between 6-8 ounces of breastmilk. I'm still pumping, though I'm down to three times per day, and making just enough to get through each day, which is about 27-29 ounces. So my supply has dropped a bit, but I'm okay with that as long as Brooks is getting enough! He is also eating baby food at breakfast and dinner, and sometimes at lunch. And I always give him little bits of table food as well. He is loving puffs, mum mums, cheerios, bread, cheese, peas, potatoes, pasta, and most everything else I've put on his tray. Clearly, the kid is not starving. I have no idea what his height or weight is at, but we will find out within the next month at his 9 month well child appointment. Lastly, Brooks is still wearing size 3 diapers, but has moved up to 6-9 month and 6-12 month clothes depending on the brand.
Brooks is such a sweet, happy boy. We love his active, fun personality already! We can't wait to watch him continue to grow and develop into charming, loving little man! Being his mom and dad are two of the best jobs in the world!
