Today I am eight months old.  I can’t believe I’m so close to my first birthday!  I’m getting so big and have learned so many new things.  Here is a list of some of my new tricks.

1.  I’m crawling.  Everywhere.  Momma and daddy try to keep me trapped in the living room, but I’ve found several ways to get out.  Silly parents.  I like to crawl into the kitchen when momma is fixing dinner and try to help.  I have my very own drawer full of things for me to take out and play with.

2.  I can pull myself up into a standing position.  I pull up on the couch, on the ottoman, the kitchen bar stools, momma and daddy.  Basically anything that’s taller than me and relatively stationary I pull up on.  I like standing a lot.  I even like to stand in the bathtub, which daddy does not like at all.  He tells me that I have to sit down and I don’t like it.  So I cry.

3.  I’m trying really hard to walk.  I pull myself up on the couch and walk along.  Yesterday momma left an empty laundry basket in the living room so I pulled myself up and started walking around the room.  It was so much fun and momma and daddy were very proud of me.

4.  Last week when I was over at my Aunt Angela and Uncle Pete’s I crawled towards the stairs.  I looked at them for a while and then just decided to go for it.  Momma was feeding my new cousin Brandon and when she wasn’t looking I started climbing the stairs.  By the time momma noticed I was already on the second stairs.  She freaked out a little, but when she calmed down she stood behind me and let me climb up the stairs all by myself.  When I got to the top I was so proud of myself.  Momma and daddy said that it is ok for me to go up the stairs with proper supervision, but that I’m not ready to go down by myself yet.  I agree with them, but that doesn’t stop me from freaking them out and pretending like I’m going to go down.  My parents are silly sometimes.

5.  I like to eat dog food.  Stella’s food bowl is in the kitchen and I like to crawl in and nibble on some when momma and daddy aren’t looking.  I think it taste ok, but momma freaks out and sticks her finger in my mouth to get it out.  Of course I cry.  Now momma and daddy make sure Stella’s food is on the counter whenever I’m awake.  That’s no fun.

6.  I’m eating a lot more big boy food now.  If fact, I prefer it over baby food.  I’ve tried lots of veggies, chicken, ham, roast beef, pasta and pieces of fruit.  I can’t wait until momma decides that I can eat big boy food all of the time.  I have eight teeth, after all.  Hey, that’s one for each month I’ve been alive! 

That’s about all for now.  Check back in the next few days for some cute pictures of momma and me.  For now, here’s one of me crawling under my jumparoo.  I told you I was crawling everywhere!

Because we were out of town I forgot to  do a 7 month post on Friday.  There’s really not a lot of change to report.  Nathan weighs 20 lbs now and has dramatically expanded is food intake.  Along with your standard baby food fruits and veggies he is now eating meat and other finger food.  We’ve also started exposing him to table food that he can pick up and feed himself.  His pincher reflex is getting very good and I would say about 65% of the food makes it into his mouth.

Nathan is getting really strong and can stand up very well, when propped up against furniture.  He also has starting getting into anything and everything.  Daddy needs to remember not to leave paper around for little hands to grab. 

Look at these chunky legs!!!

FOUR!!!  Can you believe it?

Nathan finally allowed us to take a picture of his teeth.  It was rather difficult and required some teamwork, but we finally were successful.  His 4th tooth is on the bottom and right under the surface.  It was causing him a lot of pain on Thursday, so needless to say he did not have a good day at daycare.  He’s all better now and we had a really fun weekend.  Nathan has started pulling himself up (holding on to momma or daddy’s hands) and he can stand for a couple minutes before he gets so excited he falls down.  It’s really cute to watch him get so excited and proud of himself when he stands up.  He flashes that big grin and you can’t help but smile right along with him.