Happy 8 months to us!

Today Luca is 8 months old. I say this every month, but I cannot believe it's been that long already!


We now have on our hands a lovely, smiley, laughing little girl. She sits up on her own quite well, although she has taken a tumble backward once or twice. She army crawls so much and so quickly that we're starting to suspect she's never going to do a real crawl. Maybe she's going to have mommy's pansy biceps, not daddy's strong ones (which, really, I'm pretty ok with. No need for my little girl to be walking around with huge man-arms, right?). She also pulls herself up from sitting to standing, but fortunately she has not yet realized that she can do it in her crib or on furniture...only when holding our hands. I'm not quit ready for a cruiser yet. She says Mama, Dada, Nana, Baba, and PPpppp, and she blows raspberries. She doesn't seem to be connecting the sounds she's making to the things they should correspond with, but that doesn't make it any less precious to us! And, she's really starting to show her personality. She plays coy with people, and she seems to know when she and those around her are being funny. And...of course...I would be remiss if I mentioned that she thinks belly and toe nibbles are just about the funniest things ever, second only to the dogs being yelled at. For some reason, she is highly entertained by the words 'No' and 'Naughty'. Something tells me we're in trouble when she gets older....

Playing with the crocodile xylophone.

We *think* she may be starting to teeth. Of course, we've thought for sure she was teething at least 3 times a month since the age of 8 weeks, so what the hell do we know? ;) She's eating quite a few solids now. Her favorites are bananas, watermelon, apples, and pears. She loves animal crackers and puffy cereal. Other foods she's tried, to varying degrees of success, include peaches, prunes, squash, raspberries, blueberries, green beans, carrots, peas, yogurt, cheese, chicken, potatoes, lettuce, celery, and pita bread. We're lucky because she's a good eater and will try almost anything. She has recently realized that she can grab the spoon when we feed her, which results in lots of food-flinging fun. Good times.

Daddy feeding Luca in her new high chair.

"Who knows why I don't like peas? I just don't! Now leave me alone!"

Fortunately for us, Luca is a pretty good sleeper. Most nights she's in bed by 8 and usually she's awake in the mornings around 5 or 6. We just moved her crib down last weekend in anticipation of her being able to pull herself up in there soon. We also noticed that she no longer likes to be hald upright to be rocked to sleep (it used to be that she'd wake in the middle of the night and wanted you to hold her on your shoulder and pat her back to get her back to sleep). Instead, she now likes to be cradled and have her butt patted. You and me both, sister. You and me both.

We have had a great 8 months getting to know our little girl, and I can't believe she's growing so fast!

Hamming it up for the camera.

Sitting up like a big girl.

Luca and her friend Melody play with their Christmas presents.

Mommy helps Luca and Melody raise the roof. Woot.