.eight months.

4.25.2017

Eight months.

On March 29, just four days after he turned seven months, Axel started crawling. It was a very clumsy little crawl, but he was determined! He would crawl to within an arms length of whatever he wanted and then stretch his little body out to get to it. For a while he tried to randomly crawl around with straight legs, instead of on his knees. Now he is very good at crawling and goes all over the house. For a while he would crawl no more than about five feet away from me, play for a minute, and then crawl back to me. He would do that over and over until he just wanted me to hold him again. Now he'll go to where he can't see me and play until it's almost as if he's forgotten I'm even there. Sometimes when he hears my voice or catches a glimpse of me it's like he remembers that he needs me so he starts to fuss and crawls to wherever I am. He is really good at entertaining himself, which is good and bad. We have to keep a close watch on this boy, because he is fast! He will find any little piece of lint or play dough that survived the vacuum and the first place it goes is in his mouth. I am really looking forward to getting rid of some of our carpet!

It took him a little while, but he is really good at getting himself back into a sitting position.

He wants to touch and chew on EVERYTHING. He's especially interested in the things that he shouldn't be playing with, like the outlet covers, or cords plugged into the wall, or the speakers/CD player and the remote. The girls love when he plays with the remote...especially when they are trying to watch a show! Haha! (I hope you can sense my sarcasm!)

For a while he was sick of his purees. He preferred finger foods, but mostly just wanted to play with them at first. Even now, he seems to get bored of eating after a couple of minutes. But he eats pretty much anything we put in front of him. His favorite is still pears and he likes real green beans. (Not the pureed stuff.) He also really likes graham crackers and anything he can squish in his little fist.

Now that Axel is in his own room he is sleeping great! He naps 2 full naps a day and usually takes a catnap in the afternoon. He is down to nursing 3 times a day with his bedtime bottle at night.

Axel pulls himself up to everything, and now he is starting to just hold on with one hand and turn his body around while he's standing. He's also starting to do "no hands" while he lowers himself back to the ground. He will walk along the furniture until he gets himself into a predicament, like when the couch ends, or there is something like a piece of furniture blocking his route. Sometimes he gets mad, other times he just lowers himself to the ground and finds something to chew on. Haha! He likes to balance on his knees. He'll crawl to a toy and then just push back on his knees and kneel there while he plays for a minute. It's pretty cute.

We celebrated Axel's first Easter this month! He obviously didn't know what was going on, but it's always so fun to celebrate holidays with new babies, and even older babies! My girls really enjoyed decorating Easter eggs and having the Easter Bunny visit!

Axel got his first tooth - the bottom right on April 15 and his second tooth - the bottom left on April 22. My mothers intuition told me he might be getting teeth, but I honestly didn't know he was getting teeth until I saw them. He was never excessively grumpy, he continued to sleep well. There were no indications. He's such a happy little baby!

Axel's other new trick is to climb the stairs. I am really going to have to watch this kid! He's so busy and not really afraid of anything! He sometimes gets distracted while he's climbing, so he sits on the stair and tries to twist around, and when he does that he always falls. Obviously I'm not going to leave him alone while he crawls up the stairs anyway, but we definitely have to be right with him so he doesn't roll down.

Lyla has been calling him "Ax" lately! It's so funny!

"Ax" you are my happy, smiley, funny little Mama's boy! I love when you jabber and squeal and say "mama!." I love the way you smile at me when you see me! I love how much it annoys your sisters when you slobber on all their toys (at least that's what they accuse you of when you even so much as look in the direction of a special toy). I love all the happy sounds you make and I love watching you learn and try new things! You are amazing!

Happy eight months! I love you!!