Miranda is 8 Months 2014

Eight months!

Sleep: Her sleeping is the same as last month: we hold her for all her naps. I put her down at 7:30, she's usually up by 8:30 pm, and again at 10:30 pm. She sleeps in the bed with us, and snacks all night long. We haven't even tried to move her to the crib because we're traveling at Christmas. One thing I love is that when I burp her at night, she pats me on the back too. And when she gets tired she rests her head on my shoulder. So sweet.

Perfect when she's sleeping

Food: She nurses, drinks formula, and eats everything. She prefers finger foods and anything I'm eating.

Eating a toy camel

Growth: She's outgrew 6-month clothing. She wears sizes 6-9 months, 9 months, and 9-12 months. I think she's 18 or 19 pounds.

She rolls away but it doesn't seem like she does it on purpose. She sits safely without falling over 90% of the time. She's still in the pre-crawling stage where she gets in crawling position and then either lays down or sits back up. But between scooting and half crawls, she goes quite a distance from wherever you sit her down.

Slithering, beginning of the month

Pre-crawling, end of the month

She can stand leaning for a few seconds on her own, and she pulls up on us but not on furniture. She dances even though she can't stand or walk!

Cucumber Stand

First time pulling up on her own! 12/2/14

Her two bottom teeth came out!

Personality: She's a troublemaker. She prefers James's toys, and anything off limits, especially computer cords. She gets her way 100% of the time. She plays innocent in public.

She's not that grumpy anymore unless her naps are interrupted.  She takes a third nap still but she's thinking about switching to two.

Around 5 pm her mama-preference kicks in. Kevin can talk her out of it by feeding her a lot of food.

She only says "dada" but she says it regularly. Here's a conversation I have with her every day:

M: A-dada?
E: Mama! Ma-Ma! Ma! Ma!
M: Dada. Dada. Dada.

She continues to hate sitting in the bath (we have to stand her up like she's taking a shower). Kevin has called her out on how unreasonable she's being but she's unmoved.

Ribbon destruction, like bra-burning but more precocious

Me: The not-sleeping-through the night thing is really getting to me. My personality does not sparkle like it used to.

Sparkle!

Kevin: Kevin is eager to move Miranda to her crib but like me, he's worried about going through sleep-training. She makes Kevin stand while feeding her formula, and he does because he's wrapped around her finger.

She makes him stand when he feeds her. Just because.

James: James loves school, going out anywhere with us, and his babysitter. He can now spell many more words than I have bothered to keep track of- James, mama, dada, Miranda, nana, Grandma, and lost of others. He's been really acting out lately. I think it's a bad combination of not sleeping enough, not going outside enough to burn off energy because it's winter, and general Miranda jealousy.

Competitors for Duplo (toddler) Legos


Also best friends and musical sensation

Bye-bye.

• Miranda at 7 months
• James at 8 months

James is 8 Months Old 2011

8 months

James is 8 months old and 35 weeks now!

Growth- James two center bottom teeth have come out completely.  They are really cute when he shows them off.  The pediatrician and his nurse both measured James at 30 inches long, but he is definitely not that big.  I get 27.5 or at most 28 inches when I measure him which means he hasn't grown in two months.  He hasn't gained much weight either, but his head has gotten bigger.

Bottom teeth are out (34 weeks + 1 day)

Moving!- He no longer falls from a sitting position like he did last month.  He's crawling all over the place, and now that he has the power of movement he can crawl over to places where he can pull up to a standing position. He stands as much as possible, and he's gone from holding on with two hands to one. Sometimes he attempts to "cruise" which means he tries to go from standing in one place to holding onto something else to stand.  He hasn't been hugely successful at this yet, but it might because stuff in our living room is spaced out too far for him.

Pulling up on everything! (33 weeks + 2 days)


One hand, mama! (34 weeks + 5 days)

Social- James seems to have recovered from his fear of strangers. He says "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma" all day long, but he doesn't know it means me. He high-fives on request, though he really just holds his hand up so that you can high-five him.  He waved today for the first time!  He thinks all sorts of things are funny: hiding behind walls, wrestling, being snuggled by the teddy bear, and people wearing hats. He also follows us and misses us when we leave the room.

What he does when one of us goes to the bathroom

Eating- He's trying to figure out how to feed himself from the bottle, and he can lift it but doesn't know to tilt it.  He'll eat pretty much anything you feed him, and often requests parts of our meals, much how an untrained puppy would.

Sleep- James sleeps in his crib from 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m, 3 a.m., or 4 a.m.  At that point I feed him, then bring him to our bed.  This is not comfortable at all for me, but if I'm lucky it gets him to sleep until 5.a.m. or 6 a.m.  

James is having his first Noche Buena (the 24th) this Saturday here on Long Island.  My mom is cooking traditional Cuban fare, including pork loin, yucca, and rice and beans.  Then Sunday he's headed to the Cape for his first Christmas day with Kevin's family.  It's his 6th visit to the Cape in his short 8 months! We're going to have to go to New Jersey more to even up the score!

Santa James at 33 weeks