8 months

B is now eight months old. He has changed a whole lot in the past couple weeks. He is so very curious and he wants to be able to touch everything. He is so close to crawling. He actually pushes up on his hands and knees and can crawl backward. He tries so hard to go forward but just hasn't been able to manage it yet. I give it another week and he will be crawling around like a maniac getting into everything! Ava was so not like this. I didn't even have to baby proof my house because she couldn't crawl until 10 months, and she did not have the personality to get into stuff. He has been kind of fussy the past couple weeks as well. I think he will be happier again once he can get to the things he knows he wants all by himself.

He also really wants to walk. He loves standing up next to his music table, and lots of times will cry if he is not standing there, or having me walk around the house holding his hands. He is kind of back to being a little more high maintenance. I think it will quickly pass once he is mobile.

He is sleeping quite a bit better, at least the past week. I hope it is a new and improved Bennett and not just a phase. He goes to sleep around 8 pm. He usually cries himself to sleep. Some nights he goes to bed without a peep, but those are rare. Once he is asleep he is quiet until around 10-11 when he wakes up and fusses but we don't go in and he goes back to sleep pretty quick. Then he sleeps until anywhere between 4 and 6 when he wakes up and I feed him. Then he goes back to sleep until 7:30 or so. He naps around 9 for about an hour and a half. Then he naps again around 12:50. Sometimes that nap is short (45 min). If it is then he has another nap later in the afternoon around 4. If it is a longer nap (1.5-2hours) then he only has 2 naps that day. I am amazed at what I can accomplish while he naps! My house looks so much better and I am so much less stressed about getting things done. He is still napping in his car seat, swaddled and buckled in. I keep thinking I need to just put him in his bed and let him cry but I always have some good reason why he really needs to nap that day. I hope he doesn't outgrow his car seat for a long time because it really works great as a nap place!

He knows what he wants now and when he can't get to it or I take him away from it he has this squeal/scream to let me know. It is pretty cute. Babies are lucky everything they do is cute, because it certainly is not cute once they reach 3... ;)

He loves bath's and tried to dive out of my arms when we go into the kids bathroom. I can tell he has a memory now, and knows some things he likes and dislikes. Our blender is super loud. I hold him when I use it or he will cry. Well just today I used it to make some baby food and he laid his head on my shoulder with his arm across my chest and just cuddled with me calmly until it was done and about 30 seconds later. I loved it! So I pretended to go use the blender a little later and he did it again even though I didn't turn the blender on. so cute.

He eats like a champ! Solids are now one of his favorite things. Sometimes I can't feed him fast enough. He loves rice cereal and oatmeal which is so weird to me. Ava hated the stuff. He likes vegetables. Fruit, however makes him make a really weird face. It is funny to me. Maybe he won't be cursed with my awful sweet tooth.