Eight months

At eight months old, Eleanor is finally feeling heavy to me. I think she's probably somewhere around 18.5 pounds, but we won't find out anything accurate until her 9 month appointment next month. She still has only two teeth and no signs of any more yet. I would officially consider her in the mobile category now - she can't crawl forward, but she learned how to reverse army crawl on her belly, and between that and rolling and spinning, I have to keep my eyes open...she's not always where I left her last anymore. She obviously can't get very far without crawling, but she can get places. I would guess she'll learn to crawl here soon because her frustration is very apparent when she watches other kids go places and she can't figure out how to join them.

She mastered the pincer grasp that she was working on last month, but still sometimes forgets to let go of the food when it's in her mouth and ends up pulling it back out and getting a bit frustrated. She still does not use or like her sippy cup, but we're working on that one. Eleanor is eating new foods every day, so much so that I really don't keep track of the things she tries anymore. She does love bananas, as well as the foods she loved last month. She naps twice a day pretty much always now, ranging from somewhere between 45 minutes and 2.5 hours at a time. She's also slept through the night (11-12 hours) a couple of times, but usually still eats around 5:30 AM because I feed her then before I go to work three days a week. We now spend most of our days outside as long as it's not raining, which works out better for both of us (there is only so much stimulation you can get out of building block towers). It was a long winter for Williamsburg this year and we are pleased not to be cooped up inside all day.

As a side note, taking pictures of this girl is getting far more difficult! She likes to pick up and roll around with the bear and as you can see below, the chair is getting dangerous. She likes to launch herself forward (I think she feels this is the first step toward crawling)...

Eleanor at one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven months.