8 Months Old

 Baby Zaby (who acts older than a baby) is now 8 months old as of today. (Surprise, I actually posted something on time:).  He is such a funny boy, and still has the best smile. 
In the past month he has learned how to:

• clap his hands - oh it's so cute.  He smiles so big every time he claps.  A couple of days ago, he "played" a song on the piano, then clapped for himself.  All you have to do is say, "yea Zaby," and he will start clapping
• wave bye-bye.  He waves by bending and wiggling his fingers rather than moving his whole hand back and forth
• say, "Mama"

• Move - he doesn't officially crawl yet; however, he is sooo close.  He rocks on his hands and knees, moves his hands forward, and lunges his body forward.  I don't know how he manages to keep his legs crossed while doing this.  Once he has inched forward, he turns, puts his head down, then pushes his body back up to a sitting position.  By doing this, he has managed to move about a foot in either direction.  If he would just move his knees he would crawl and mobility would be a lot easier.  He rolls really well, and stretches and reaches for things.  He has an amazing ability to grab things (very quickly) and knock over everything.  He is a crazy little man - always moving in some form or another, always grabbing things, and trying to climb on things.  It is impossible for him to sit still.  He stands up against the bath tub and knocks all the shampoo and body wash bottles into the tub.  He empties bookshelves, drawers, everything.  Eliza sat perfectly still and didn't get into anything at this age, so this is all new to me.  If possible, he does prefer standing to sitting.  He managed to stand alone for 1 second today, but he can stand for quite a while if holding onto something.  When he starts crawling, or worse walking - he will literally be into everything. 

• Eat food - no not baby food; he wants the real stuff.  He has had bread, scones, pizza crust, crackers, macaroni noodles, peas, peaches, pears, graham crackers, pancakes, oranges, yogurt, and bananas (although he didn't care for those much).  The problem is he shoves everything into his mouth that he will gag himself at times. 
• Gives hugs, kisses, and pats on the back - he is a very affectionate little guy
• Pull hair and take things from his sister. 
• He has 2 slivers of bottom teeth

• Throw his weight around - it's not a good thing because he can pack it in.  When he gets mad, he goes stiff as a board and throws himself backwards.  It's hard to hold onto him, and I seriously don't know how he can maintain such a stiff body, it's hard to bend his limbs when he goes like that. 
• Get what he wants which most of the time is for mom to pick him up.  This little man has some lungs on him - he can really scream and then acts like he hasn't a care in the world when mama picks him up.  He grins and smiles, smiles and grins. 
• He hates getting put in his car seat.  Once I wrestle him in there, and give him something to hold he is fine, but the initial putting him in is hard.  I don't use the infant car seat anymore - it got too heavy to lug around with my 20 pound baby in it.  We just use a rear facing car seat.   
• He is a paper detective.  If the tiniest piece of paper is remotely within reach, he will get it.  Some of the things he puts in his mouth, I have no idea where he even got it.  He's remarkable with manipulating his hands. 

Everywhere I go, he gets lots of attention.  Everyone says he's so cute, and everyone comments on his smile.  I have people come up to me from across the room just to mention that he grabbed their attention.  Something about Zaby attracts a lot of people.  But I would definitely agree... He's just so cute!  Thanks for being my baby boy buddy.  I sure love you!!