Eight Months

Dear Nathan,

This month has been full of fun changes.

You officially have two teeth! They came in a few days apart and their final entrance made for a few rough nights. You have very quickly figured out a use for them stripping fruit off its peel or gnawing on vegetables. There is still a little more learning to do – your open face kisses now are bites and they don’t feel great. I was also surprised when you crawled over and bit my leg today. You still give the most wonderful one arm hugs when we hold you, which we will forever love.

You have mastered forward movement. The technique you use looks an awful lot like freestyle swimming with your toes pushing you forward and your upper body reaching for the desired item. It is incredible how fast you are – if I turn my back for just a moment I’m always surprised with where I find you. You have also figured out how to go from hands and knees rocking to sitting up. You’ve only been doing this for a few days and it is so fun to see you sitting up and watching us or playing with a toy.

Sleeping has been great some nights and absolutely lacking others, but we’ve been switching when and where you sleep all month. You still take two naps a day if your morning nap happens or one mega nap in the middle of the day if it doesn’t. You prefer two naps though.

Nathan you have fully joined the social aspect of our family. You join in on the conversation and singing and your whole face lights up with a smile when we make your sound back (ba ba ba ba). Your giggles are still reserved for special occasions and we absolutely love when they sneak out. We now have you sit in the high chairs at meal time and you are all business once you see food. You cry out or yell until food is in your mouth and start again once we take the spoon out. You try all food and we haven’t found anything that you don’t love. You have figured out how to pickup little pieces of food but not how to get it out of your fist.

Nathan we love watching you explore the world. Your hand is constantly feeling everything you can reach. You love the different textures and quickly go from running an object to trying to get it in your mouth. There are zero exceptions. You play incredibly well by yourself, scooting around and analyzing different objects. You have started to cry a little if you see us mid-playing so that you can be picked up and join us. When we are outside you have started sitting yourself up in the grass and running your hands through it. I was surprised how long you sat there the first time a few days ago.

You are a fabulous car rider. You are pretty content to just look out the window or play with your toes or a toy. You fall asleep eventually around naptime but you wake up the second the car stops moving.

Nathan it is a joy to have you in our family. We love you so much and are ever grateful you are here.