Two thirds of a year! As a celebration of turning eight months we have got out the 9 - 12 month vests, mainly to make sure they for over his chunky cloth bottom. Other clothes stay in the drawer until they are too small, regardless of label size: might as well enjoy them for as long as possible...
This has been a consolidation month. No spectacular new skills to report, but Tom is consistently improving on existing skills. He can sit for ages now and has started leaning forward over his legs and getting on to his front, a precursor to crawling. He can also flip from front to back and back to front now, as well as rotate around when he is on his front. Nappy changes are interesting as he flips to his front as soon as you put him down. Once he starts crawling I suspect I will be chasing him around rather a lot!
Tom has definitely got the hang of food this month. Mealtimes are still messy, but he will grab whatever is in front of him, chew and swallow it. Bread is still a favourite, but juicy fruit such as apricots or oranges run a close second. At mealtimes he and Marisca sit next to each other, grin and giggle together. They are going to be very cheeky and thick as thieves as they get older, and we are looking forward to it.
And what a lovely smily, giggly boy he continues to be! He is very ticklish and will giggle if you tickle his tummy and coo hello when he sees us. While this is lovely, it isn't great at 5 am when he decides it is morning. Tim and I take it in turns to get up with him in the early mornings, and this is one of my favourite times : he plays happily while I surface gradually with a cup of tea, then we have cuddles and play until Marisca gets up. When he sees her he grins from ear to ear and we are ready for another day as a family!
