Zachary: 8 Months

Note we had to have Ryan hold the sign. Otherwise, you just wanted to tear it up. 

Dearest Zachary,

You turned 8 months today. And a busy month it has been! You are coming into your own for sure and developing more and more of a personality every day. You remain a determined, happy, at times easily frustrated, and joyful little boy who loves his family, and most of all his big brother.

This month you learned to wave bye-bye and to say "Ma-Ma." You still don't crawl, but you're so darn close. But despite how close you are, Daddy and I are both fairly convinced that you're not gonna crawl because you would much prefer to stand and walk. You can pull up by yourself (when you manage to roll or scoot yourself close enough to something onto which you can pull up) and you love to walk around while Mommy or Daddy hold your hands. The other day you stood unsupported for about 4 seconds and you're learning to fall safely onto your bum when you lose your balance.

But to be honest, none of us are particularly eager for you to become mobile. You are a very determined (read: stubborn) little guy, and when you want to grab something, it is very difficult to stop you. The things you can most often be found reaching for are the remote, Mommy's cell phone, or Ryan's toys. Keeping you out of things you're not supposed to touch is difficult enough at this point. It will become near impossible once you can move on your own. Though Ryan doesn't realize it, he may be the most effected when you can move. Suddenly all his toys will be fair game. I think I see a cage in your future! (Hah. Just kidding. Sorta.)

You eat like a champ. You pick up and eat (to name a few things) puffs, cheerios, strawberries, meatballs, pasta, mandarin oranges, avocado, and black beans (you LOVE black beans!) all by yourself. You can use a straw and you slurp up Daddy's special green smoothies (with spinach and flax seed) like there is no tomorrow. You still love to nurse but during the day you are eating real food more and more and nursing less and less (I wish the same was true at night!).

Ryan remains your most favorite person in the world. Well, maybe a close second to Mama. But if Ryan produced milk, he would DEFINITELY be your favorite! Ryan makes you laugh like no one else and when he's not around you look for him. You almost never cry, but on Ryan's first day of pre-school, you spent much of the morning whining/fussing and looking around confused. I think you missed him and were wondering when he was. You love him very much. And he loves you, too. You and Ryan now thoroughly enjoy taking baths together. One night recently you were really tired so you got out of your bath rather quickly. We expected Ryan to stay in for a while and play. But after just a few minutes he said, "Dada, it's lonely in here without my bruddah. I wanna get out." It is one of life's greatest joys to watch the two of you interact with each other. Ryan gets the biggest belly laughs out of you, and those truly, truly are contagious.

You're also a very observant little boy. You clearly are taking in a lot about the world, and once you can really talk, I expect you'll have a lot to say. One such sign of your intense observation is what you do anytime someone gives you a cloth, a napkin, or a paper towel. You immediately start "cleaning" the floor or table with it. You don't eat it. Nope, you clean. You're a man after my own heart. Of course, after cleaning for  a bit you then may tear it into a bunch of pieces and try to eat it. But first, you clean. You've generally gotten better about not eating everything. I can let you play with the sand box without you shoveling it into your mouth (though, you do occasionally try to sneak a taste). But you understand the phrase "not for your mouth" and when I say it you typically stop what you're doing, look at me and smirk. You're smart, and funny, and you bring so very much joy to our lives. We can't imagine life without you!

Happy 8th-Month day, Zachary!

Love,

Mama

In addition to all the every day fun we have around here, this month also included your first ever Orioles' game. Ryan had to wait until he was 3 1/2 years old to go to a Big League game. But, being the second kiddo, you got to go when you were only 7 1/2 MONTHS! The joys of being the second :) Pop-Pop joined us and we had a blast.