The LilyPad: Quinn: 8 Months

OK Quinn was 8 months a while ago - and since he's patently refusing to do his post this time around - I guess I need to stop procrastinating. He says he's too busy figuring out crawling. What a slacker.

And since I'm writing late - I'm going to have a hard time keeping straight what happened before and after his 8 month birthday. But I'll try. Also - short on pictures this month (sorry BaBa). It's partially because we're into winter now and indoor shots are just not as much fun and partially due to the fact that G hasn't exported all of the Dec/January photos yet. We've been busy... and sleep deprived.

So without further excuses and whinging.....

Quinn's eighth month was mostly a blur. December is a rough time in our household because we have FOUR family birthdays that fall between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. Also Gordon had a BIG birthday this year - actually his birthday was on Q's 7-month-day. On top of that we traveled to New Jersey and Quinn decided to go on a "sleeping at night" strike. So when we weren't crazy busy we were half asleep (wow, am I STILL whinging?)

Here's what I can remember:

Although he still doesn't really have anything to show for it - Q did a lot of teething - hence the no-sleeping. His entire upper gum is bursting with teeth. It's like they're all getting into place so that they can just pop out in unison one day. I'm slightly terrified that he's going to go from toothless grin to a full set of teeth overnight.
He's working on crawling - hard. He mastered the "army crawl" this month. So now if I put him on the floor in the living room where I can see him while I'm in the kitchen washing dishes, it's not long before I can't see him anymore. I suspect the crawling bit is adding to his sleep problems.
He's also working on pulling up to standing. He can do it with the "parents activity cube thing" (see next picture). We bought this cube for like $10 at a yard sale when Lily was almost 18 months. Gordon carried it all the way back to our place from Davis Square. Lily liked it okay, but it's been a BIG win with Q since he could sit up. And now he uses the bead tracks on top to pull himself up. He's immensely proud of himself when he does it - but usually ends up toppling back over pretty quickly.

You just wait - I've almost got this!
He's started eating finger food. The first one was some organic baby puffs deal (wow you really can google anything). He LOVES these things. At first we felt bad for using them to get us through lunch/dinner etc. But then Gordon realized that one serving - 72 puffs - has like 25 calories. So yes, we are paying for air. But we are also getting to eat our dinner. So Win! Q's got quite the pincer grasp too - he's good with these puffs! I love when he picks one up, studies it and talks to it before eating it. When the puffs are gone he gets very verbal about it. I'm trying to teach him the sign for "more" - but he prefers just banging on the table and yelling in my general direction until more appear. His method is very effective, so I'm not all that hopeful about the sign language bit.
Lily still cracks him up. He loves to laugh. His laugh is infectious. At bedtime I hold him and rock him in my arms while singing "Rainbow Connection". Sometimes he looks up at me and just laughs with ~~amusement~~ delight while I'm singing. Then I laugh - and then he laughs more. It's awesome and adorable and I hope he never loses that baby laugh. It's the best.

I can totally get into Jeh-Jeh's toys now too - Score!
He still doesn't really nap for more than 45 minutes on average. I'm still optimistic, though less so. I am also a fool. I am slowly trying to move on to acceptance.