8 Months Old

Helen is 8 months old (8 months and 3 days, if you want to be particular).

She continues to love her bath time.

She’s taken to fake smiling, coughing, and crying. Here’s proof of her fakey cry.

Helen likes food again!  She’s gets the vast majority of her nutrition from breast milk, but it’s fun to feed her solids every once in a while. So far she’s tried egg yolk, chicken broth, avocado, banana and pumpkin (mixed with grass-fed, organic butter). Here’s a video of her eating pumpkin.

She has been having some MAJOR separation anxiety issues lately. She’s all happy and content while I’m holding her, but if I set her down for one second she loses it. Also, I know she doesn’t have pants on in this photo. That’s because she cries and kicks when I try to change her diaper or put clothes on her. So sometimes I just give up and let her roam without pants. I haven’t let her go without a diaper…yet…

Here are a few more facts about Helen:

• She finally got a tooth: her lower right front tooth.
• She also decided to (finally) grow some hair. It’s so fun to see it get thicker.
• Since she got her tooth she’s been experimenting with more consonant sounds (dada, mama, baba, ect.). She says “mama” when she wants comfort.
• Her night time sleeping is actually worse than it was last month. She usually wakes 2-3 times during the night. I haven’t had the heart to makes her go back to sleep without nursing first. I wonder if teething is at the root (no pun intended).
• She’s getting better at standing. She can balance for a few seconds and she has even pushed up to standing by herself (no support) a couple of times. I’d be surprised if she isn’t walking by Christmas. But of course it could take her longer to learn than I think.
• She loves to look at pictures of babies, including herself. And she coos when she sees her cousin Susan.

And that’s Helen’s 8 month update!

7 Responses to 8 Months Old

1. Rebecca Lately 
   October 16th, 2013 at 1:15 pm
   What a sweetie!! She has such a pretty smile :)
2. Kathryn Grace 
   October 16th, 2013 at 4:54 pm
   Love that smirky photo… so cute!!
3. Rebekah 
   October 17th, 2013 at 9:15 am
   She’s a doll! And I bet you’re right about teething as the cause of more frequent waking. That’s what my daughter did… she was sleeping perfectly until the teeth came along. Like you, I just nursed her back to sleep. I figured I’d rather spend five minutes nursing than half an hour listening to her cry. :)
4. Diane 
   October 20th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
   Yes, it’s the teething. Does she have one of the teething rings you can freeze for her to gnaw on? My boys liked that. Of course they also liked gnawing on the furniture and their cribs.
   I don’t think she has separation anxiety, Erica. You’re there all the time so she’s testing you to see how much she can get away with. Dress her and give her some toys to play with when you have things to do since she needs to learn to entertain herself. She can look through some cloth-bound books or stack blocks or bang wooden spoons together. She’ll be walking soon and she needs to know who is in charge (That’s you. Not her.) so she doesn’t end up hurting herself by running from you.
   This is very important if you should have another child while she is still small. She needs to know that you are the final authority and she can’t break things or hurt others. Kids aren’t bad (although it’s easy to think that when they sink their teeth into your leg), but they live in the moment and can’t think ahead. You have to be ahead of her.
   I’m not trying to be bossy, so please don’t take it that way. My kids are grown now and I know trends in childrearing come and go.
   Best of luck!
   Diane
5. Arianna 
   October 22nd, 2013 at 8:39 am
   Oh my, she’s so sweet, in the third picture she’s just… awwww :)
   Cheers from Italy ^_^
6. Arianna 
   October 22nd, 2013 at 8:42 am
   oops I meant greetings, lol
7. Erica Lea 
   November 12th, 2013 at 10:07 pm
   Thanks, everyone! :D
   Diane: I don’t think you’re being bossy – I have lots to learn! :)