When Ela was just a few weeks old, we went to to the park to see my friend Ashley, who has three kids. The youngest was 8 months, and I remember thinking she was huge and bright-eyed and could do everything. Now, here we are at 8 months, and Carmela is huge and bright-eyed (generally), and happy (usually) and can do a lot of things. Today was a little exhausting — our girl was cranky and whiny and clingy and fussy most of the afternoon and evening. I had to cancel our bath because she was crying and rubbing her eyes during dinner; we decided to just go straight to jammies and milk — she ended up going to sleep about an hour earlier than usual. We'll see how tonight goes. (In fact, I can hear her crying now ....)
I suspect Ela's cranky because she's frustrated about her mobility. She's trying really, really hard to crawl, but she just keeps flattening out onto her tummy and making swimming motions toward the objects she wants. On the kitchen linoleum, she actually pushes herself backward away from her goal, and that makes her really mad. Still, she's made great progress over the course of the month, and has figured out how to go from a seated position to all fours; she's even tentatively moved a knee forward a few times into a beginners crawl. It won't be long until she's really crawling. She's also getting really good at pulling herself up; we think she might master both about the same time.
Ela remains a great eater, and is eating just about everything — and lots of it! We have a little bit of rice cereal and fruit (prunes or pears) for breakfast, a vegetable or vegetable mix and some applesauce for lunch, and the same thing for dinner. Ela tried a mashed potato, green bean, corn, and sweet potato mix yesterday and seemed to enjoy it. She loves sweet potatoes and hates green beans, and she loves all the fruits she's had. She also enjoys apple juice, which she drinks from her sippy cup. Soon we'll try some yogurt and see what she thinks of that.
Ela still loves all her toys, and is a jumping champ in her Jumperoo. We had to raise the height on it a couple of clicks because she's grown so much. Lately Ela loves watching bigger kids play — at daycare, at the park, and at the mall. She stares intently, then wrinkles her nose and breaks into a great big grin. She's also learned how to clap her hands, so she'll generally applaud their acrobatics. She also applauds while she's eating her dinner, while she's playing in a Tupperware container of water in the kitchen, or anywhere else she feels needs appreciation and acknowledgment.
Carmela went to the park last week and swung on a swing for the first time. It was a big hit! She was confused and curious at first, then broke into one of her gigantic gummy grins. After the swing, we watched the big kids run around the playground, slide down the slide, and play on the jungle gym.
Carmela really loves "reading" her Feelybugs book she got from Aunt Tauni and Uncle Justin — she fixates on the feathery bug, feels its feathers, puts them in her mouth, and pulls on them. She also loves the wrinkly bug, which is make of some kind of pleated fabric. She loves to pull on it. Another favorite is the bristly bug, which is made of the hook side of Velcro — she likes to run her fingers over it. She's still too little for storytime, though, and either runs out of patience when I read a book to her, or narrates in her baby babble over the top of it. She's way into textures, though, and likes to splash in water and smear her hands (and toys) in her rice cereal on her high chair tray.
Finally, Ela is beginning to show affection. Every now and then she'll give "kisses," which are more like open-mouthed pecks. More often, she'll lean forward and gently rest her forehead on Mom or Dad's forehead. She's such a sweet little girl.
