8 Months and Failed Video Attempt

Lilly around 8 months. 

Lilly is 8 months old and a week or so today, and I have been delaying putting this post up since the last post was at 7 and a half months and I don't feel like a ton has changed since then, but she does change weekly!  Here's a list, sorry if some of it is a repeat from a few weeks ago:

• Recently she's become more interested in her own reflection, looking at the distorted image in the fridge, or her actual reflection in the mirror.  
• She's crawling like she's been doing it for ages, often cruising the fastest when we step out of arm's reach for just a second, or when she wants something we don't want her to have. 
• Banging on things is also great fun.  Tonight she was banging on the cooler, then on the dryer door and back, almost as if she was exploring how the two made different sounds.  
• Her favorite thing to do is to pull herself up on things, often taking a break just before her head gets to the top to chew on said item.  She also smiles at us when she gets up, so proud of herself for making it up.  Her balancing is getting better and she can now stand and hold on with just one hand, freeing the other hand to pound on things or wave excitedly in the air.  

Fun in the kitchen 11/3/12, sporting 12 month clothes

• She'll hold on to items for longer periods of time.  As we carry her, she'll hold on to whatever toy she was last playing with and then drop it randomly later.  We'll often wonder, how did it get here?  My favorite was when she carried a serving spoon around with her as I carried her around the house.
• Day care is still one of her favorite places, she often giggles when Nick drops her off in the morning.  At least she's not crying when we take her home!  
• Clapping is another new trick.  
• Oh, and stairs.  Climbing stairs.  On October 26th we went to a friend's house for a dinner party.  All the big kids were upstairs playing.  I think Lilly heard them, so she crawled over to the stairs and I followed.  She put her hands on the bottom stair and pounded.  Then she moved her hands to the next step up and pulled her legs up on to the bottom step.  And continued up.  Over half the flight of stairs before she got bored.  We've decided we're not bringing her to other people's homes anymore, that's where she learns her new tricks.

Lilly tackling the stairs at our house 11/7/12

• Her napping is still hit or miss, worst on Tuesdays when Nick is home with her, but averaging a 40 minute in the morning, and hour and change in the afternoon, and then a brief 20 or so minute nap before dinner.
• Sleeping at night is getting better in that she goes 3-4 stretches without needing to be rocked or anything, but she is still getting up frequently to eat.  It isn't helping that she's not interested in bottles at day care, so at night we've got to make up for lost ground during the day.  But, most of the time it is up, feed, diaper change, finish feeding, back in bed in thirty minutes.  She's getting good at self-soothing, which is great!
• Solids are going ok - she's more interested in fruit than she used to be but squash is still our go to food.  That and yogurt.  The girl LOVES her plain whole fat yogurt.  

She also loves spaghetti.  It is really entertaining to watch her eat it; she often sucks the noodle in her mouth.

• Finally, teeth.  She has all four on top, two on bottom, with the outer two on their way in.  Hopefully we'll get a little break, I feel like the poor girl has been teething since the end of July!

A few last photos from the past few weeks:

This was a fun trick for a few days - sticking her tongue out.  And always out the right side.

Emptying her lunch containers from her day care bag, along with a few other items.  She took her pacifier out of the bag and put it in her mouth.

I have a video Nick took of her giggling tonight after dinner while I was playing peek-a-boo with her.  She was also giggling during dinner each time I hiccuped.  She was giggling nearly uncontrollably each time, it was great!  Unfortunately I am still struggling to get videos to load on the blog.  I think I need to start using YouTube or maybe Vimeo to get them to work.  Perhaps a task for this weekend.  Now to grade papers and then to bed.