8 Months: Eating, Standing, Being Happy

I’ve been thinking about what to post for this month’s baby post for two weeks now and I’m having a hard time narrowing down a specific topic to write about. So instead, here’s bit of a rundown on how things are going in our household with our increasingly mobile little one.

See that pose up in the photo? That’s how the little miss prefers to spend her days—though even more than that, she loves standing and walking while holding onto our hands. It’s quite exhausting and hard on my back since she’s so short, but her toys seem to have little appeal and she’d rather be standing. She has a long way to go before she starts walking on her own (she’s pretty wobbly!), but it’s amazing to watch her progress.

Our meals have become more fun in the past week or so as Linden has actually been eating. Up until now she’s mostly been sucking and chewing on things, so this is a real turning point. She loves (LOVES) roasted sweet potatoes and steamed apples seem to be a bit hit as well. We’ve been having some marathon lunches, her and I.

Generally, we have a much happier baby on our hands. I think this is due to her increasing mobility—she crawls around the house and is getting into everything (especially things she shouldn’t like the computer router and the guitar)—and the fact that we’re in a pretty solid routine of two naps a day and about 12 hours of sleeping* each night. We get lots of smiles, she’s a total chatterbox (especially when standing), and she’s even content to sit and listen to books before naps.

All of this means that our days are pretty enjoyable and I actually started to feel like myself again (well, myself with a tiny sidekick) about a month ago. Hooray! Though this freezing weather is for the birds. I can’t wait for it to warm up a bit so that we can resume our afternoon walks. I’ve found that getting out of the house is totally essential in maintaining my patience and enthusiasm—and I’m lucky that Linden seems to really love being outdoors. I just ordered her her first pair of shoes so that we’re ready to run around on the lawn as soon as spring hits. I can’t wait!

*Having a napping ritual has really helped us. She’s generally awake for 2.5 to 3 hours at a time during the day and when it’s getting close, we read a few books, pull the shades, and I turn on the white noise. That is her cue that it’s sleeping time and she snuggles into my shoulder and sucks her thumb. Then into the crib she goes to go to sleep on her own. It’s one of  my favorite parts of our day!