Eight Months Old

Simon turned eight months old last week. When he was a little bitty guy, there would be at least one person per day, yes literally, who would tell me how quickly he would grow up and what little amount of time he would spend being his current size and shape. I figured it was easy for them to say since they weren’t getting up with him every three hours at night. But, at some point Simon started smiling at us and sleeping through the night, which has made raising him less of a challenge. Every day I look at him and wonder where my little wrinkly peanut went.

Now, if you’re going to leave a comment about how quickly he will continue to grow and he will be off to kindergarten/college before I know it, please see item third from last and understand why I will roll my eyes at you.

At eight months Simon:

• is about twenty-one pounds and 30.5 inches – long and skinny, which comes as a surprise to no one. In the past month, he has gotten skinnier even while gaining weight.

• sits up on his own (but cannot yet reliably stop sitting; instead he chooses a random direction and lets gravity do its work, which has resulted in bonking and tears)

• has a sense of humor. He and I sometimes hide under a blanket when we hear Todd come home from work. This is very entertaining but always gives away our position. Also hilarious: dinosaur voices and his own face.

• “eats” a few things, primarily baby biscuits and whatever goo has accidentally stuck to his spoon. He doesn’t really care for most food yet, but is happy to gnaw on some solid pointy things like carrot sticks or his spoon.

• makes a few sounds. We had to take him in for speech evaluation the other day and learned that he can make the m, w, and h sounds, as well as most vowels. Now that I know what to listen for, I hear them all the time. Today he said “mom” during lunch, and I know it wasn’t about me, but I’m sure it actually really was about me. He frequently purses his lips, as though to make the m sound, but hasn’t figured out to put the voice and the mouth together yet.

• has some fluid in his ears but can still hear, although he has trouble determining where sounds are coming from.

• has favorite toys: jingle bells on a handle, anything with crinkly cellophane, green things, and the “pretty pink tutus” page of his “feel the textures” book.

• has five teeth and one possible little nubbin forming on the top (the appearance of which would give his dentition reflectional symmetry, which would please me greatly).

• bites people.

• wants to crawl, but doesn’t know how to make his body obey his bidding yet. He has a high moment of inertia (see item #1), so maybe it’s harder to swing the limbs into action.

• is fascinated by beverages and watches our glasses with an eagle eye. But does not want to drink from a cup yet.

• no longer sticks his hands into food or drink I am holding, probably because of the Hot Grits Incident at the Country Cat.

• wants to eat that cell phone, and any other cell phone.

• wants to break necklaces, especially ones with beads.

• likes to pat people’s faces, especially Todd’s beard and my nose and chin. No comment on what the prominent features on our respective faces are.

• looks just like Baby Todd, except for his eyes and his hair color.

• naps for thirty minutes at a time, twice a day, after no small amount of crying.

• goes to sleep at night without a peep, by himself, and sleeps for at least twelve hours in a row (figuring, perhaps, that he owes me).

• gives big slobbery kisses.