8 Months Old!

Wow- time flies with a little one.  Here are a few quick updates on our sweet little boy.

Sizes- size 6-9 month clothes, size 3 diapers

Eating- little man weaned himself this week, so he's now exclusively formula fed.  After battling bleeding, months of Raynaud's syndrome, and significant supply issues, I'm okay with closing this chapter in his life.  Gideon has between 24 and 32 ounces of  formula a day, plus two solid meals a day.  He eats like a champ!  His favorite foods are any puree that contains blueberries, and sweet potatoes.  His favorite snack foods are mandarin oranges and peach cubes.  He loves to feed himself, and assumes any food around him is his to eat.  Watch your plates!

Sleeping- two naps a day, plus sleeping 12+ hours a night.  I'm blessed with a great sleeper!

Development Milestones- So many fun things this month!
-Fine tuning his pincher grasp.  This was really noticeable with mandarin oranges this month- the first few times they were offered, he would grab them so hard (in his whole hand) that the juice would run out.  Now he can pick them up, one at a time, bite off half, and then eat the rest.  He's also starting to eat more equally with both hands, instead of just eating left handed.
-Sitting independently for longer stretches.
-Reaching for toys that he wants to play with
-Making some "inchworm" movements on his tummy.  No sign of crawling yet, mainly because little man does not like being on his tummy at all.  He'll roll on to his back almost immediately.
-Bigger smiles and laughs.  He's started to squinch the bridge of his nose when he smiles or giggles.
-Establishing object permanence.  I've noticed him leaning around me to find toys that I've hidden, or to see where the doggies have gone.
-Starting to understand "cause and effect."  (I hit this button on my toy, and now I hear noise).

New Words- "Mama" is his first word!  Melt my heart!  He recognizes that saying "mama" gets praise and enthusiasm from me, so he says it a lot, and then giggles when I respond.  This has also made naptime a little comical.  I laid him down yesterday and could hear him on the monitor saying "mama....MAMA!!....mama mama mama."  He's also doing a great job with the "B" sound.  He's making another sound pretty often that I'm convinced is in Hebrew- maybe he's a future seminarian?

New experiences- this month Gideon started full time day care at a local church.  The ladies who take care of him are so precious, and he has lots of babies his age to be friends with.

Favorite toys- his most favorite toy this month is his ring stacking toy- the kind with five rings of various sizes that stack on top of each other.  He likes to pull all the rings off, and then try to eat them.  He also loves his shape sorter toy with various shaped blocks.  Anything that he can hit together and have it make noise is lots of fun right now.

Favorite books- Our new goodnight story is "Llama Llama Nighty Night."

Unofficial momma endorsement- I have fallen in love with labels from a company called Mabel's Labels.  I ordered a set of these to label all of Gideon's bottles and sippy cups for school.  They stick well, lay flat on curved surfaces without puckering, and are completely dishwasher safe.  I am a huge fan.

It is so fun to watch Gideon grow!

Goin' Swimmin'

For the past three years, we've spent the weekend of the 4th with a set of family friends in Mt. Hope.  We were very excited to come back this year as a family of three!

First we had to get Gideon all decked out in appropriate sun protective gear.  Poor kid has alabaster skin, just like his momma.  

Check out those cool sunglasses!  We got him some that actually wrap around his head so that he won't pull them off.

Keith tried dipping Gideon's toes in the water first to see how he would react.  He wasn't very impressed.

He was content to sit on Daddy's lap for a family photo.

We walked around the pool and let him splash his feet in the water.  He was very content to do little splashes.  We even played "washing machine."

And then he let me push him around on a float.  He seemed pretty content in this big float- he did NOT like the "kiddie" float we tried to put him in first. 

Overall, Gideon was a great little boy for our day trip.  There was so much activity that he didn't want to sleep, so he's made up for missed sleep today.  We look forward to more fun swimming trips here soon!