Eight Months Old

Yes, Mama?

Dear Will,

The best word to describe you these days is "happy". You've always been a wonderful baby, but comparing your personality now to your personality just a few months ago is night and day. We've come a long way from those early months of colic. Now you are always smiling. You love to laugh. You are an absolute joy.

You might as well be talking for how much you babble. It seems some string of vowels and consonants are always streaming out of your mouth. Ba-ba-ba, oooooo, and pa-pa-pa are among your favorites. You say ma-ma-ma quite a bit, but more often when you're tired or upset. So I'm choosing to believe that means you're asking for me.

In addition to babbling, you recently figured out how to blow raspberries. You take big dramatic breaths and blow with all your might. It's so cute. I think you like some combination of the sound it makes and the vibration on your lips.

You've developed a pretty good case of the "I want Mama's" lately, crying nearly whenever I leave the room. This means you spend a lot of time perched on Mama's hip or sitting in Mama's lap. That part I love. But it's hard to hear you cry for me when I drop you off at Grandma's for the afternoon, or run upstairs even for a minute. Don't worry, my darling. I will always come back to you.

I know it's the same month after month, but child, you love to eat. Sometimes I'm shocked by how much food you can put away. Your favorite foods this month include pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots, mango, apricots, apples and bananas. See a pattern developing? We're worried you're going to turn orange from all that beta carotene. I try to sneak in some green veggies here and there, but you reject them quite firmly and purposefully. You used to love peas, but no more. If it's not orange, you're not interested.

We gave you a bedtime blanket this past month, which you just adore. It's a soft muslin blanket with satin trim. You love to cuddle up next to it and stroke the fabric. It's so sweet.

You sit on your own no problem now. It was like one day you just woke up and decided "yeah, it's about time I sit by myself." This makes playtime a ton of fun, since I can plop you down in the middle of the floor with a basket of toys beside you. It's so great to watch you pick out your favorites and explore each one.

For whatever reason, you rotate toys only with your right hand and shake them only with your left hand. But you'll bang your toys with any hand, on any thing. It's so funny to watch you play vs. how your girlfriends play. The girls are so gentle with their toys, but not you. You're throwing them and crashing them into stuff (other toys, the floor, the dog, yourself). Then turning them and shaking them to see how they work. I never really believed in inherent gender roles, but even as a baby you're all boy, my darling.

You want to move so badly, but you haven't quite figured out how crawling works. You will however, roll back and forth to inch yourself closer to things. And you can pivot quite quickly on your stomach. Though you seem to want to crawl, you don't get too frustrated. You just keep reaching and trying the only ways you know how. You'll get it eventually. And admittedly, I'm no hurry to have to baby proof.

After I put you to bed each night, I literally can't wait until I get to see you again in the morning. Daddy and I frequently have conversations about how unbelievably awesome you are. We are so proud to be your parents.

I love you, my darling boy.

Mama