Ben at 8 Months

Hard to believe, but Benji turned 8 months old on Christmas Eve! It’s been a big month for Ben. He seems to be pretty much over his texture issues with food and is now eating everything in sight (as we allow). He also wants only to feed himself and gives us a look like “You know what you can do with that lousy spoon!??!” every time we try to feed him. The four new teeth that have punched through in the last month are getting good use tearing off pieces of crackers and bread … though Ben wants desperately to move on to burgers and steak.

He is also mobile! It is not crawling exactly, but scooching along, usually backwards. He is, however, extremely frustrated that he cannot crawl. He constantly flips on his tummy and gets up on all fours, sometimes doing a downward dog sort of deal and scooches and cannot quite get it, so he grunts and moans and eventually protests until we sit him up again. But that doesn’t stop him from reaching everything in sight. And he is now pulling himself up on our hands and stationary objects. I really do want him to crawl/walk soon … at 23 lbs, he is heavy!!

The jumper is still his favorite occupation, slowly being eclipsed by sitting on the floor and playing with toys. He is finally more interested in books, though it is more of an oral interest. And speaking of oral, in addition to putting everything in his mouth, he is putting his mouth to excellent use chatting us up. He now says mama and dada with some association and patpatpat when he claps (darling!). We also think we’ve caught him saying Tabby once or twice. Big sister figures big into his world.

He (still) does not sleep through the night. I really think that at this point it’s a comfort issue rather than a hunger one, but we’ve been so exhausted with basement/Christmas that I haven’t had it in me to work with him at night. I hope that in the next few weeks I can work with him and get him sleeping through. I need it badly!!

2/3 of the way through his first year and we are loving him so much! This is prime adorable baby time and I do not want to miss a minute. Off to smush my baby boy!