8 Months Old & Curtis' Visit

Another month has flown by (and once again, I'm writing this post when he's almost a month older). Now that he's not growing so dramatically, I feel like I've watched him gain new skills almost every day.

8 Months Old

We weighed him at Thanksgiving (approximately a week before his 8 month mark), and he was 22 lbs. 6 oz., right on track with about a pound per month like normal. He usually eats about 6 oz. bottles per day with three full meals. He's jumped up to about 4 Tbsp.+ of food with cereal every meal, with one meal of the day usually about double that. We've been giving him water in a cup (no lid) at just about every meal, and he's really started to improve in his coordination. There are still plenty of wet shirts after meals, but he's starting to control how much water he wants in his mouth and overall it's a much easier process.

His bedtime routine is very much like it was. He goes to sleep between 7-7:30 (usually closer to 7) and has now eliminated the 9pm feeding. It was much easier to eliminate than I thought it would be. Josh and I thought that he might cry for a long time before settling himself down, but he only cried for a few minutes a couple nights and then began to sleep right through that 9pm mark.  He still takes a morning and afternoon nap, usually about 3 hours total between the two. 
I just reread the 7 mo. post - it's amazing how much he has changed in just a month! He is definitely starting to prefer tummy time, especially once he realized that there was a possibility of him moving around from that position. He JUST started creeping along the floor. We play a game with him where we stack up blocks and he has to move towards them to knock them down. For about a week he's been pretty good about turning towards them to knock them down but he just realized at the beginning of December that he could move forward as well. Oh boy! Here comes the babyproofing!

Along with awareness of the outside world comes more opportunities for getting into trouble. Jesper is starting to just barely understand that there are some items that he shouldn't play with. Right now that doesn't mean anything but that we continue to distract or remove him from situations where he shouldn't be and saying "No", but I think we've passed the "golden age" of babyhood and discipline is going to be a bigger part of our relationship with him. It sounds so unpleasant, but I keep reminding myself that the goal of parenthood is to turn out a high-functioning, socially responsible adult into the world. :)

In other news, Curtis came to visit during the second weekend in December. It was so fun to introduce him to Jesper! Curtis is remarkably good with babies and it never ceases to amaze me how great it feels to watch a family member you love having fun with your kid. We didn't do much other than some early Christmas shopping and hanging out, but I really enjoyed spending some time with Curtis and catching up.


Curtis and Jesper



Curtis gave Jesper an early Christmas present - a Fisher Price race track. It has blinking lights and the cars make a lot of noise as they clatter around the track. Jesper wasn't so sure about it at first, but he loves it now!!