Cash's 8th Month

At 8 Months, Cash is a big ball of personality. He has had so many new milestones in the last few weeks. To keep it brief (which I'm not very good at), I'll put it in list form.

- Most of his clothes are in 12 months although he wears some 18 months. He even has a few pajama sets that are 24 months!

- He weighs about 19-20 lbs. I've only measured on my scale at home, so I don't know how accurate it is.

- He started crawling on September 5th (about 7 and 3/4 months old) and is pulling up on EVERYTHING! We love to watch him discover all kinds of new things now that he is mobile. Although I could have lived without him discovering Moe's food and water dishes.

- He started saying "Mama" on September 10th. Sometimes he switches from calling me "Nana" to "Mama" but I've been correcting him after he says "Nana". The first time I heard him say, "Mama" was in his bedroom while Colt was at a gig. I put a Disney movie on in his room, and I was doing chores (in his room) while he was playing in his crib. He kept trying to get my attention, and finally he just said, "Mama". At first I thought it could have been a fluke until he said it again later that night. I can't even describe how happy it makes me to hear him mumble my name all day long.

- It seems that he is beginning to understand what "NO" means (now that I have to say it all the time). It could be the tone of voice, but he definitely pauses and looks at me everytime he hears it.

- He had his first low grade fever, accompanied by a sore throat at the beginning of his 8th month. That was no fun, especially for our sleep schedule, but he's 100% back to normal now...well at least he doesn't have a fever or sore throat anymore.

- His sleep schedule is so weird now. He went from sleeping 8-10 hours a night, straight, to waking up about every 3 hours to comfort nurse. We may try to put him in his crib, but plans for that have been on hold since Colt has been so busy with gigs. Its hard to get a baby on a conventional schedule, when the parents are on an unconventional schedule, but I think we do a pretty good job.

- On that note, he is still sleeping with us, but takes naps in his crib.

- Another problem with the sleeping in his crib thing is that he is going through a BIG attachment phase. Sometimes he'll just fuss unless I am holding him. I could be sitting right next to him, but unless he is in my lap, he isn't happy. I LOVE that he loves me, but I'm trying to train him to be able to self-soothe.

- I love this story...My parents, and Emilee babysat for us so that we could go to the Tom Petty concert after Colt played before the show. They tried to give him formula for the first time in several months. Immediately upon sticking the bottle in his mouth, he wiggled, spit it out and said, "NANA...MAMA!" My mom said he was looking all over for me. I just love love love that story.

- He eats so much! He is eating 3 solid meals a day, and sometimes he'll eat a whole jar of oatmeal or mixed grains right after a solid feeding. I haven't dropped any breast feedings either!

- He loves books. He may even love books more than his other toys! He's really into colors, sounds and lights.

- He loves the guitar and music in general. When we went to see Colt play before the Tom Petty show, Cash was waving his hands to the beat! Its really weird, but he does that almost all the time.

- He's started to "sing". We were at my brother's soccer game when my mom started singing to him. He started "singing" back in response to her song. Now he does it in his car seat sometimes when we're listening to the radio. One of his favorites is "Red Cord" on my Uncle Josh's new CD, "Seven Years of Lean".

- He bit Michelle Mitchell at church twice while we were in the nursery. I hope that he doesn't make that a permanent thing. Haha!

- Cash has discovered the joys of having a brother...a canine brother at least. He loves to play with Moe. His favorite game is fetch, when we throw Moe's duck toy across the house and he runs back to us with it. Cash just about crawls out of our arms with excitement when Moe brings it back.

- He is allergic to cow's milk. We discovered this after seeing little red spots appear around his mouth after letting him taste some of my ice cream one night. It happened again after tasting some whipped cream off of my fruit dessert at Matt and L'Von Qualls' home one night. We confirmed that it was a milk allergy after he had one of the yogurt bites for babies, and his mouth broke out in the semi-swollen, spots. They say milk allergies usually fade. Hopefully that's true.

- We also think he is left handed. He picks up everything with his left hand. If I hand him something, he'll always take it with his left hand.

- I really wish I could videotape him all day long because he does something cute nearly every minute. I did catch his first laugh on tape, as well as his first time crawling. The gazillions of pictures will have to be sufficient for the rest. :)

We are already half way through the 8th month. He is the most handsome, smart and fun loving little boy. Everything I ever dreamed of. Love Love Love him.