Dear Max,
Gosh, we love you. You are becoming more expressive and interactive by the day and our hearts seem to grow by the hour. After you go to bed at night, your Dad and I often look at pictures and videos of you and giggle about how cute and silly you are, and wonder what you'll be like as a boy and as a grown man.
Speaking of bed, right as you were turning seven months old we decided to take a leap of faith and sleep train you for bedtime. Of course, we'd hoped you would be one of "those babies" who naturally went to sleep peacefully at 7:00pm on the nose and didn't wake until morning. Since that wasn't the case and all three of us were in need of more restful nights, sleep training was the answer. In short, it worked great and most nights you sleep 10 - 11 hours. The vast majority of the time if you wake in the middle of the night you fuss for a few minutes and go right back to sleep without us coming up to soothe you in your crib. Now that you are sleeping for longer stretches at night you seem less grumpy during the day. Naps are still inconsistent and not all that long, so we're still trying to get that piece of the puzzle sorted out.
Your bedtime schedule varies a little bit depending on your sleepy cues, but generally we get started around 6:45pm. Dad or I take you upstairs to change your diaper, wash your face and hands, and put you in your pajamas (the other one is usually cleaning up dinner and washing dishes). Then, you nurse for however long you'd like and when you are done I call Dad in to join us. Dad holds you in his lap while I sit on the floor beside the rocking chair. (This way we both get bedtime snuggles!) I pick out three books (usually two short ones and one long-ish one) and Dad reads them to you. You love to close the books and often give them a quick taste when he is done reading.
After stories, we sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" two times through while Dad rocks in the rocking chair and I rub your leg and feet. One of us says a bedtime prayer for you then we take you over to your crib and give you your little monkey. We lay you down, kiss you goodnight, and tell you we love you and that we will see you in the morning. Generally speaking you fuss for a few minutes then calm down and relax in your crib for a bit before going to sleep all by yourself. Sometimes you'll end up overtired (our fault for not getting you down sooner!) and will cry a bit longer than that, but most of the time you put yourself to sleep pretty well. You usually wake up for the day between 6:00 and 6:30, but occasionally you'll decide 5:30am or 7:00am is more palatable (we'll let you guess what our favorite wake-up time is! haha).
It's hard to believe that just eight short months ago we could put you in the laundry basket and you fit with a few inches to spare. Now your legs practically hang over the end!
There is not much new on the physical development front this month, but you sure have been working hard on everything that started last month. You sit well enough to ride in the grocery cart seat and sit in a high chair at a restaurant.
The babbling is adorable and becoming more distinct, and sometimes you'll even mix different sounds instead of just making the same one. For example, instead of just "dadadada" you might say, "lalala tsstsstss dadada".
The main new thing is sort of an extension of the scooting you've been doing for a while. Since you still aren't much of a roller you have become quite adept at getting around on your belly. You've been able to turn different directions for a while, but now you scoot yourself backwards pretty regularly. It seems like you try to hike up your knees to go forward at some points, but it hasn't panned out thus far. Usually you are pretty successful at getting yourself from a sitting position to your tummy, but occasionally you get a little stuck and end up in funny positions like this:
We have continued to introduce new solid foods this month, and have experimented a bit with combining different foods as well. Your level of interest in eating solids varies, but most of the time you don't seem all that interested and stop after a few bites. Other times you'll surprise us, though, and you'll gobble it up and we have to refill your bowl! We've tried various timing related to when you nurse to see if maybe you are too full, and we've also tested it with different foods but there doesn't seem to be a clear rhyme or reason why you're in to it sometimes and not interested other times. For now we're still just offering solids in the morning and evening since you're kind of lukewarm about eating solid food. We also tried introducing this little mesh feeder thing which you kind of like. It has a handle and a little mesh bag that we can put soft foods in. You gnaw on the bag and it mushes out in a pureed form. Messy, but fun and an easy way to get you started eating while I make the rest of dinner or breakfast.
Your love of rhythms and music continue to shine through. We pulled some toy maracas out that we had picked up years ago as party decorations to see if you'd like giving them a whirl. Man, oh, man do you love them! You shake, shake, shake and waffle between seeming very serious and very excited about what you are doing.
We've given you a plastic bowl and some small tupperware to play with, too, which is loads of fun. You seem to like making them in to little drums!
Right after you turned seven months old I had an alumnae reunion weekend at Brenau University where I went to college. A bunch of girls who I went to school with had babies in the last year, too, and it was so fun to see all our little ones together. My sophomore year roommate, Sarah, had a little girl named Sophia almost exactly one month after you were born. You and Sophia seemed to love interacting. This is one of my favorite pictures from the day-- it looks like you are telling a joke or funny story and Sophia is laughing!
Here are some facts about you as an eight month old boy...
Nicknames: M.J., Julian (not really a nickname, but sometimes when you are being serious it seems like "Julian" suits you better than "Max"), Honey, Baby Boy, Buddy, Bud, Bub
Loves: Applesauce, standing (you aren't pulling up yet unless you are holding our hands, but we can stand you in front of the sofa and let you hang on), blowing air between your lips, shaking maracas
Dislikes: Same as last month with the nose wiping and nail trimming
Height, Weight, and Head Circumference: No pediatrician visit this month so I'm not sure! I'd guess you're pushing somewhere around 17 or 18 pounds, though, and you suddenly seem very long.
Clothing Size: 6 month, size 3 diapers
New Foods: Apples, squash, broccoli
Here's to another great month! We love you so much, baby boy, and thank God for you each day.
Love,
Mom
