8 Months

8 months old sounds so... old!  I thought it was going to be a rather uneventful month, but it has shown all kinds of new achievements.  Early in the official 8 month birthday week I was on the phone with my mom and I was telling her how Matthew gets up on all 4's like a bear but refuses to go anywhere.  I was also telling her how surprised I was that he hasn't figured out how to sit up yet.  Well, I guess he was listening because within 30 seconds of me hanging up the phone he looked at me and sat himself up.  By the end of the week he was crawling. 

Look at me brushing my teeth!  I have 4 of them!

In other developmental news, I love seeing him waving his toys with his wrist and not the entire arm.  The pincer grasp is pretty darn cute and fun to watch, too.  There is no more hiding the TV from him since he's got the whole object permanence thing.  He'll just shove your hand out of the way or turn himself back around so that he can see it.  

Speaking of TV...  He really enjoys the music channels.  50's music to be exact (barf).  I play good mom and tune into the Malt Shop Oldies station for him, but I don't like it.  I do like seeing him dance around so I guess it's worth it!  He LOVES to stand up and bop around, but if nothing is near by to assist in the standing then he's perfectly content to bop around on his butt.  That might be even more fun to watch.  He's also realized that he is capable of pulling himself up (and pulling me down).  Sometimes I can't tell if he's grabbing the collar of my shirt in order to pull himself up OR to pull me down.  He does both.  He can't quite pull himself up in the crib, but he can get up to his knees.

We bumped Matthew up to size 4 diapers due to pee volume - size 3 fit, but if you have kiddos that pee a lot then you understand why we put up with a little extra bulk in the booty.

We're still feeding him the same food schedule as we were at 7 months and he's still having mystery allergic reactions.  We can't seem to pinpoint anything except that we know for sure mango, maybe carrots, and definitely perfumes, and scented laundry detergent/fabric softener.  Poor kid can't go out in public (or the public come to our house) without having some sort of reaction.  We're keeping a daily diary of food and events, but I think we're probably heading to a daily dose of something medicinal since we can't single out the worst offenders.  Honestly, I think it's bothering me more than him!

Here is my happy boy!