8 Months - Time to baby-proof

Parker is now 8 months old. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. This month has been a fun one, and Parker has continued to grow and develop normally.

He is now eating solids 3 times a day

And he love to play with balls. He's pretty smart and has found if he throws the ball on the bottom shelf of the bookcase it will come back to him.

He is now officially crawling (although he still arm crawls sometimes)

A few days after he started "really crawling" he started "climbing" Nothing is safe now. He can now touch the VCR and DVD player, and can get books off the second shelf of the book case. He can also pull the drawers out of Troy's dresser. BTW I just went and checked on him after putting him down for a nap, and found he had pulled himself up, and he was STANDING at the side of his crib. All in all we really need to get to baby proofing.

LOOK Mom more buttons to play with :(

Climbing to the fireplace :(

He likes to spit. CUTE unless he's eatting.

Binky Battle

Parker loves his binky

Parker started out with a unruly desire to suck. I didn't want him to suck his thumb, because I figured when the time came for him to give up the sucking I could take away a binky, but I couldn't take away his thumb.

It took a while for him to keep the binky in his mouth by himself. We usually would have to hold it in so his little tongue didn't pop it out. He eventually got to the point he would hold it in himself, and it rarely popped out.

Recently he got to the point where he seemed to really love this little binky. It would give him great comfort. At night I would put him to sleep, and just put the binky in his crib with him. He would usually find it and start sucking away. If he would wake in the middle of the night he would cry for a short period of time, and then find his binky and go back to sleep.

Most recently he has decided if he throws the binky out of his crib he can just cry and cry and cry, and we willl come to his rescue. He did this for a few days, and then I decided he's just going to have to learn how to go on without it. Normally I wouldn't worry about a almost 8 month old having a binky, but given the situation I saw no other way.

The first two night were REALLY REALLY LONG. The first night I fed him at about 3am and then laid him back in bed. (Normally this is when he would find his binky, and fall asleep). He started to cry. I tried to let him just cry, but after an hour of crying, and then hearing him start to cough I went and comforted him. The next night he started to cry and I went in there and tried to hold him and comfort him, but he wanted nothing of that sort. Eventually I fed him and held him some more until he went to sleep.

Last night. . . . he slept over 8 hours and then I fed him, and he went right back to sleep. YIPEEE SKIPPY

I'm guessing our problem isn't over, but last night sure was delightful!!!!

Do something you love!!!

Parker ready for run with mom

Just because you love something doesn't mean you have to be the best at it. For that matter you don't even have to be good at it. All that matters is you enjoy the time you spend doing it.

MANY years ago I was a "fast" runner. I enjoyed it, but found myself running for others rather than myself. Today I run for myself. If I see a duck and want to watch it I'll stop and watch. I may not be as fast as I once was, but I enjoy the time I spend doing it, and that is all that matters to me.

I still push myself at times, as I find joy is seeing what the limit of my body is, but I do it on my own terms.