Andrew's 8 month update

It has been a while since I've been able to post! I dont know that I will remember everything; it has been busy. Andrew turned 8 months old on May 17th.. he's growing up so fast, but I'm loving this age!

Andrew had been getting around in his own way for a while, but it was May 12th that I realized he wasn't crawling on his tummy anymore, he was actually crawling for real. He is certainly delighted with his newfound ability. I love being able to hear his hands and knees smack the floor as he crawls, or the shuffling sound he makes across carpet.

 We have had to move the cat food off the floor since he is so eager to have it. He also chases Flash around laughing the entire time. Yesterday he got Flash's collar from off the floor and was waving it around. Flash of course associates his collar with being allowed outside - so he was trying to figure out how to get it back from Andrew.. it was pretty funny to watch their interactions. Flash is sooo good with him. He lets Andrew chase him, and gently tells Andrew when he's not being nice, and then he gets out of reach when he's had enough.  (notice he is eating catfood in the picture below)

I bought a baby gate at a yard sale weeks ago to put at the top of the stairs that go down into the studio, but I can't get it to be tight all the time. I dont trust it. But Andrew has always been fascinated with that doorway and what's down there. Twice this week I have stood at the stairs ready to catch him, but letting him investigate them on his own still. The first time he realized the change in depth.. the second time he was so distracted by Tripod who went running by him that he forgot to look and would have fallen down the stairs if I hadn't been ready to catch him.

He likes to sit and play with the air return vent in the hallway. It doesn't latch properly anymore so it makes a lot of noise when he bangs on it because the bottom of the door is loose. That and he can make interesting sounds by running his fingers down the outside of it.

He is still fascinated with the vacuum cleaner. Today he pushed it back and forth in the hallway for a long time, and eventually moved it into the bathroom. Which, by the way, he loves sitting in the guest bathroom. I dont know if its because he hears his voice echo differently or not, but he loves being in there. 

He also likes to sit in front of the bookshelf in his room and pull the books and toys off to play. He is really good and content playing by himself most of the time. But I love watching him. 

He loves it when you clink your teeth together, or cluck your tongue. 
He likes to scream.. Ted and Andrew will just go back and forth going "Aaaah!" and laughing.

 Ted also started 'running' with Andrew. He'll start him off walking, and then go faster and faster until Andrew is practically galloping across the floor. Its hilarious! He wont do it when I have the camera out, but I'll try to catch it soon. But Andrew LOVES it.. he has such a great laugh too. He makes us so happy.

On May 23rd we took him in the pool for the first time. It was over 90 degrees outside that day so the air was still warm even though the sun was close to setting behind the house. He LOVED it!  Today it was cooler in the evening so I put a shallow bucket of water on the deck for him. He sat on the outside and splashed his hands in it so much he was soaked from head to toe, and he enjoyed every minute of it. He sure loves the water!

 He is making his way out of his 9 month clothes and into 12 month. The four long, slender short-sleeved onesies he has still seem to fit okay, but nothing else in that size does. But several pairs of the 12 month pants we had for him are too small, while one of them is too long! I dont get it! Nothing seems consistent.  His jammies are 18 month sized. They are a little long in the torso for him, but the feet are the right size. They should be the perfect size in another month or so the way he is growing.  Each month, we stand him in the doorway of his room and use a ruler to mark his height. He grew a good inch and a half at least from 7 months to 8 months!

The other day I went in his room to get him, and I could tell he wanted to try and stand up so I ran to get my camera. He's so cute. Of course, after he got up he was so excited he jumped in his bed and hit his mouth on the side which resulted in a flood of tears. Poor munchkin. Click on the picture to see it larger.

He looks so mischievous in this picture.. it cracks me up:

VIDEOS:
Andrew having fun in his Jumperoo:


Andrew Crawling down the hallway (he can crawl way faster than this):


Andrew Drumming on Papa's drum:


Andrew playing with the toys in his room:


Andrew playing with the vacuum cleaner. (he moved it all the way into the bathroom by himself yesterday and kept going in there to play with it):

Did you know that there are REUSABLE swim diapers out there?! I guess its along the lines of using cloth diapers and being eco friendly and all.. but I didn't even know they existed! I found them in the One Step Ahead catalog I got in the mail. I am loving their stuff!
 I'm considering buying Andrew the little baby splash pad. Although.. he can just sit and play in a bucket of water and be happy - its not like he needs the splash pad. And hooking it up to the hose would be a nuisance for me. We'll see.  But the swim diapers... now that would be a good investment I think.  Lots of fun stuff there. Glad we're not going to the beach this year - I'd have been tempted to buy some of this stuff. Here is their website if you want to see what I'm talking about.