Eight Months.

– has changed and grown and developed so much this month.

– is  around 20 pounds and 28 inches long. He’s officially tripled his birth weight!

– can pull a five pound weight toward himself. That’s nearly a fourth of his weight. He’s like a little ant baby. (See also: pulling every cord out of every electric outlet he can get to. That’s safe, right?)

– is quite entertaining – he shakes his head no, blinks when we clap, and gives us kisses. Last month, I mentioned his new penchant for attacking us with his mouth wide open. He grabs our face with both hands, pulls us towards him, and gives us a nice, slobbery kiss. And then my heart explodes.

– loves himself. Looking at himself in the mirror, on Photo Booth, and in videos.

– (speaking of videos) does this adorable thing where he shakes his head whenever we play music:

– prefers standing to sitting and thinks he can walk. See?

Gabe Takes a Walk. from Ashley Marie on Vimeo.

– has figured out cause and effect. Pull on the cord, the toy comes closer. Hit the toy, the mirror spins. Bang the spoon on the bowl, it makes noise.The only one he hasn’t figured out is throw this toy, can’t reach it. It’s fun for all!

– has mastered the scoot. It looks like the worm: push up, flop down, push forward, repeat. He scoots down the hall to the bathroom when I’m in there. He scoots out of our bedroom while I’m getting dressed. And he scoots over to Mike’s guitars constantly.

– really likes books, particularly touch-and-feel books. He also enjoys eating paper.

– likes to pull his own hair. Little crazy baby. Maybe he thinks it’s a touch-and-feel book.

– has a favorite toy: a wooden spoon. He’s a big fan of all sorts of spoons, really, and we even found one in bed with him once. He’s also a big fan of guitars, and he has a little ukulele of his own.

– has been on a fussy kick lately, and I am not a fan. I keep thinking he’s bored. Is that weird? Perhaps he’s teething. Or beginning to experience separation anxiety. Or just hastes his mother. I DON’T KNOW. (Also: has stopped napping for two hours at a time. Happiness! All around!)

– can take baths in the bathtub now – no more baby tub for this kid. Watch out, world.

– figured out how to go from sitting to crawling, so combined with the worm – he’s basically mobile. Crap.

– have been working out daily, and it feels amazing. It feels amazing to sweat, to wear something I can’t nurse in (for once), and to work hard at something and accomplish it. Oddly, after giving birth, I seem to be able to push myself to run farther, lunge deeper, and try harder than I have before while working out. Perhaps I’ll be able to push myself to run a half marathon this fall?

– booked our first family vacation to Asheville in three weeks! First hotel stay with Gabe. First road trip (more than the 2.5 hours to Mike’s parents) with Gabe. I’m nervous, but also so, so excited. Last summer, we couldn’t do much traveling since I was fairly pregnant, so we’re planning to do as much as possible this summer. Whee!

– haven’t done any ‘baby proofing,’ and am not really sure what this entails since we’ll just move stuff out of his reach (like…all the crap on the kitchen floor he keeps trying to eat) and it’s not like he’ll be in the other room playing while we work. We don’t have stairs and the kitchen cabinets are retro metal cabinets that I can’t even open them easily.  I haven’t thought about it much until now…thoughts?

– am realizing more and more that I cannot compare him to other babies, and that no parent feels 100% confident in themselves. We’re all just trying to not screw up our kids too badly, and are worrying about their weight gain/hitting milestones/sleeping. Anyone who’s figured it all out? Is probably bluffing.