This has been the most wonderful May. The weather has been the perfect mixture of sunny afternoons and rainy evenings. We've spent a lot of time with family, started to enjoy the fun outdoor activities of summer, and Austin's personality has really started to shine. This is one of my very, very, very favorite stages - Austin is so happy, playful, and cheerful and he is learning so much. We went from barely rolling to practically mobile! More on that later... but we've loved this last month together.
Stats: Wearing size 2 diapers and solidly in 9 month clothes (not 6-9 months). No teeth. Starting to get a little bit of hair on the crown of his head.
Some things I want to remember about this month:
--He is physically developing like crazy. He can barely remain sitting because he's so anxious to be mobile. He'll lean forward onto his knees (or, lean forward onto his toes - then after working his legs for a bit finally get to his knees) and rock back and forth. By the end of the month he figured out that he can push himself back from his knees to a sitting position. Now he can get from his bum, to his knees, to laying on his tummy, back to his knees, and back to sitting! He's not "crawling" necessarily but he is definitely mobile. With all the moving to his knees, tummy, and pushing back to a sitting position, he rarely stays in the same place. He'll end up several feet away from where he started. He also learned how to pivot himself when he's on his tummy so he can aim himself the way that he wants to go (even if most of the time he ends up pushing himself backwards). I love to watch him try to get to something by pushing himself forward, realizing he can't quite get it, laying down on his tummy and stretchinggg his arms out, and doing all he can to maneuver his body towards it to get it.
--He has such a funny sense of humor. He thinks things are funny and he laughs about them all the time. I can't believe how smiley his is and how much of his day is spent giggling about something. It could be Lydia running around and playing a game with him, or even just reaching out to grab something that he finds amusing. (Like, the other day I was holding him and standing by a wall. He wanted so badly to touch the wall and when I leaned forward so he could reach he laughed and looked up at me with a smile, and laughed while touching the wall again.) It doesn't take much, just tapping on his tongue or dancing with him will get him to start laughing with you.
--It's so fun to have him have such a developed sense of humor. Sometimes while I'm rocking him before bed and he isn't quite ready to fall asleep yet he likes to play a game with me where he bites on his pacifier and I tug it out really fast. He laughs and I put the pacifier back in, he bites down, and I pull it out again. It's silly, but I love to hear him laugh so I play with him even if I should be getting him calmed down and ready for bed. One day he grabbed the pacifier from me, then tried to put it in my mouth. When I grabbed it with my lips, he pulled it out and laughed and laughed. I loved it so much! Now we take turns with our little game. I'm obviously impressed that he grasped the game and turned the tables on me. I have a hundred examples of his clever little sense of humor but can't possibly record them all. But I definitely want to remember how funny and humorous he is.
-He discovered his tongue and for almost a week and a half it was out all day every day. He thought it was so funny and interesting and couldn't get over how cool it was. He also took an interest in everyone else's tongues (most people who saw him with his tongue out also stuck their tongues out at him, really, it was hard to resist). If someone stuck their tongue out, he'd perk up, smile, stick his tongue out even more, and try to grab their tongue. So funny! Even now, all you have to do to get him to stick his tongue out is to show him yours and smile. He'll show you his tongue right back.
--Austin made his first appearance at the annual Walker family branding festivities. He wasn't sure about the whole thing and spent the majority of the time observing everything with a skeptical look on his face.
-I don't have any great pictures of this, but he's started to pull himself up to a standing position. He needs something pretty sturdy, but if he can get a good grasp he can pull himself up with his arms and push with his legs. He's always so proud when he makes it up and he practices as many times as he can in a day.
--He's super ticklish. I [not so] secretly love it.
--He grabs at EVERYTHING. Absolutely nothing is outside of his reach. I can't hold him while I eat or we both end up with food all over us. Really, I can't hold anything else while I'm holding him. I think I've set things out of his reach and he always proves me wrong. I'm continually pulling important documents, random wrappers, paperback books, and a hundred other objects away from him. I don't know how he manages to reach things that are obviously out of range - but he does.
--With the happiness of summer, we've started to get a little less structured with our naptimes. He's such a trooper and is pretty good about just hanging out wherever we are, even if it's naptime, and just taking a short nap in the car or taking a longer/later nap. Sometimes we do three one hour naps. Sometimes we do two longer naps. Sometimes, I keep him out way too long and he only gets one real nap and he just sleeps here and there. Through it all he's a cheerful, happy baby and glad to just be with us wherever we are.
-I love this baby. He is pretty good for other people, but I love the way he smiles and reaches for me when he sees me again. There's nothing like your own baby to make you feel loved and needed. I've started leaving him with babysitters a little more now that he's a little older but I miss him while I'm gone. I'm pretty content to just bring him with me wherever I go because he's such a happy camper. (Also, no picture of it - but we are quite the babywearing team. He loves it. I love it. I wear him almost everytime we leave the house.)
--I don't know if you can really tell in the picture above, but I think Austin takes after me and my side of the family a lot. He looked almost exactly like David when he was born but he's definitely started showing a lot of Walker. Actually I think he looks just like my little brother Matthew when he was a baby, but it's definitely that Walker look. I love that both Lydia and Austin have their daddy's blue eyes and blonde hair, but I kind of love seeing so much of myself in him. (What do you think? And also, my parents! I love this picture of them. And me.)
--I talked a little bit about naps. As far as nighttime goes, we haven't started sleep training because I haven't felt good about it. I usually nurse him till he's tired, lay him in bed and hold his hand while he sucks on his pacifier until he falls asleep. (Thank heavens for David taking care of Lydia in the next room.) When he wakes up in the night I go in and fall asleep with him until morning, waking up frequently to adjust and nurse. We are both pretty tired in the morning and I know that he'd sleep better if I just made the effort to help him sleep in his bed all night, but I don't know how to do that when I'm so tired. Working on that this next month.
--I know I said it before, but I love seeing this little boy's personality shine through. He's so happy and funny and sweet. We love him and are excited (and also a little nervous) for him to learn to crawl and all the other things that come with being mobile. It's going to be a great summer.
Happy 8 months Austin!
