Grayson: 8 Months

The little man has had a big month.

Growing
Our doctor here doesn't see him again until 9 months but he is now in 12 month and 12-18 month clothes.  Yikes!  We took him in for an ear infection a few days ago and he weighed just over 18 pounds and my guess is that he's tall for his age.  Still size 3 diapers.

Scooting
He is so close to crawling but for now is still doing a super fast army crawl on his belly, elbows and knees.  He frequently gets up on his hands and toes or hands and knees and rocks back and forth with intense concentration but has yet to master the forward movement.

Sitting
Finally!  In the last week the flailing man has reigned himself in and can now sit unsupported.  He LOVES being able to be a part of things, especially watching Ava and playing "with" her.  I of course love this new independence and the ability to plop him down more easily in places that I'd rather his face not be in contact with the ground.

In this picture he had a fever and was in direct 

sunlight but he's smiling anyway!

Teething
Yes.  Very much yes.

Solids and Reflux
Grayson continued to abhor all solid food and mastered the art of laughing with his mouth closed so it became nearly impossible to feed him.  I backed up and began with very thin oatmeal in breast milk but he still would barely take a spoonful a day.  He will play with a spoon and lick banana off of his hands but was adamantly opposed to traditional feeding.  After a week or so I began noticing signs of his acid reflux returning (screaming after breastfeeding especially at night, not napping well and needing to be held upright to fall asleep, etc) and at first attributed it to my increased caffeine intake.  However, after cutting that out his symptoms remained.  I decided to stop giving him solids to see if this was the culprit and after 2 days he was nearly symptom free.  I was shocked seeing as how he was getting so little to begin with but now it is clear why he hated eating from a spoon so much.  It was painful!  I stopped solids altogether and we are going to talk to the doctor at 9 months and hopefully try again then.

Due to our change in healthcare provider we've had to switch Grayson to a different form of his reflux medication.  This one is not as baby friendly so it involves cutting open an adult capsule, collecting the hundreds of tiny beads of medicine that inevitably explode all over the kitchen, pouring them into a syringe, adding water and delicately squirting them into his mouth.  In between squirts when I unavoidably clog up the head of the syringe I poke it with a cake tester, squirt, poke, squirt, refill the syringe with water because I've used it all up on only half the capsule, squirt, poke.  It's an ordeal.

Babbling
When he's healthy this little man loves to chat.  He has started saying "Dada" and of course we praise him incessantly and pretend that he's saying his first word even though he is probably clueless.

Loves
Pretty much everything that used to make Ava cry.  Being bounced and thrown, being startled, tickled and having things snatched from his hands.  He loves tags, toys that aren't his, fist bumps and high fives, Ava, busyness, being awake, being talked to, drinking from the faucet during baths in the kitchen sink, chewing on the bathroom rug and our TV cabinet (did I mention he ate a whole receipt yesterday?), toys that make noise, walks in the stroller, listening to Blair play the guitar and the quintessential baby hypnotizing machine--the ceiling fan.

Sense of Humor
He has started showing signs of a sense of humor which is so fun to see.  I notice it most when I'm changing his diaper, he likes to grab the wipes from my hands and then giggles, waiting for me to say, "Hey, give that back!"

Sleep
Because of all of the teething, illnesses, reflux and transitions to sitting and crawling, his naps have taken a hit.  He has dropped the evening nap which I was sad to see go.  He is likely to sleep for about an hour in the morning and if I'm lucky, 2+ hours midday when Ava takes her nap.  Thankfully except for the late evening he's still a very happy boy despite getting dramatically less sleep than his sister at this age.

Though he has slept through the night a handful of times, this is still not the norm.  I am an advocate of the cry-it-out method but this boy is more stubborn than any child I've heard of.  Three or four separate times I've let him cry at night for up to 3 1/2 hours for multiple nights in a row and he will not break the habit.  He is not particularly hungry most nights as evidenced by the fact that he is satisfied with one side and then does not eat well in the morning, but he usually will not go back to sleep any other way.  Once he is healthy I will try crying it out again but for now, we wake.

Schedule of the moment (for both kids):
6:30a    Ava wakes up
7:30a    Grayson wakes and feeds, Ava eats breakfast
8:45a    Grayson naps for about an hour, then play/run errands
11:30a  Grayson feed, Ava eats lunch
12:45p  Both kids down for a nap, sleep approx. 2 hours, then play
3:30p    Grayson feeds, Ava gets a snack, then play/run errands
6:00p    Family eats dinner
6:30p    Grayson feeds and goes down for the night
7:00p    Ava's bedtime
9:30p    Wake Grayson and feed him
2:30-5a He wakes somewhere in there for a feeding
6:30a    Start it all again