8 Months (and May Pictures)

Norah is 8 months today. Unbelievable. Here is what her dad was doing at 8 months:

"Seth is on the move! He is just starting to get up on hands and knees and crawl but when he wants to get somewhere fast (to a lamp cord or a plant) he creeps on his stomach. He can pull himself to a standing position and stand for a long time—if he pays attention and remembers to hold on. He’s just starting to experiment with sitting up from lying down. He plays pat-a-cake and makes a motor noise while pushing a toy along the floor. That he learned from the 2 older boys at the babysitter’s. (One was Jesse Kropf.) He’s mostly very cheerful. He takes 2 naps a day and sleeps from 7-7. He’s serious with strangers but not afraid."

Norah is also on the move. She still hasn't progressed from an army crawl to being up on her hands and knees, but she definitely gets around. She has started to pull herself up, with a little help. We lowered her crib over the weekend. She definitely has the strength to pull herself up, but is still working on the coordination and balance.

A few weeks ago Norah blurted out "da da da," and (according to Seth) also recently said "ma ma ma," although I haven't heard that one yet. Neither are associated with us, however. Norah seems to have so much personality all of a sudden, and she definitely has opinions. If she is fed and well rested she is easily entertained by a basket of toys - she rifles through, looking at the toys playing with one for a while before finding another one. She often tips the entire basket over, and occasionally it catches her off balance enough that she topples over with it. She seems momentarily caught off guard, but then quickly finds another toy and continues playing. Norah has recently started intentionally dropping toys and is interested in locating them on the floor.

Norah has been a good night sleeper, although for the past week has requested feedings between 4 and 5AM (we're hoping it is a growth spurt, but haven't figured it out yet). Naps at daycare are improving. On her worst days she was taking two 20 minute naps. She is old enough now that they are working to get all of them on the same schedule, which includes turning out the lights. This seems to be helping - she now fairly consistently takes 2 naps that are a minimum of 1 hour. Norah sometimes falls asleep on the way home. Bath time is soon after six and bedtime is 6:30.

Norah eats 2 meals of solids each day at daycare. So far she has had sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, apples, prunes, avacodo and rice cereal. Her favorites seem to be sweet potatoes and prunes. I make all of her food (besides the prunes and applesauce) and otherwise she has had nothing but breastmilk.

We laugh a lot. Sometimes Seth and I both chuckle just looking at her and we're not even sure why. She shows signs of being a "ham" like her cousin Luka, so it will be fun to watch as her personality continues to develop.

Here are some pictures from May (a little later than usual):