8 Months

Dear P,
You are 8 months old today. You have grown in leaps and bounds in the past few months and you continue to amaze me all the time. You are a champion speed crawler, standing by yourself (!), happily eating everything you can get your little hands on (including little pieces of dirt you find on the floor), and you got your second tooth! Your personality is coming out more each day and your Papi and I think you won the jackpot on personality.

Things You Like:
You have a fake laugh now. If we are being silly with you, but we aren't funny enough to elicit a real laugh you have this very fake laugh you'll give us as if to say you appreciate the effort. It is pretty darn cute. You are very very playful! You love when we play peek-a-boo around any corner and your Papi plays it with you so often that whenever he leaves the room you watch and wait to see if he peeks back in. You think life is a constant game of peek-a-boo. You know what you like! If we are doing something fun with you and you don't want to stop you are sure to let us know. For example, your Papi puts you on his shoulders and bounces around the house. You absolutely love it! When he stops to catch his breath you bounce wildly on his shoulders as if to say, "Again! Again!"

Things You Dislike: You know what you want and sometimes I think you are too smart for your own good. This leads to some frustration on your part and so we have seen a few mini temper tantrums this past month. Yikes, we may be in trouble! If we take something away from you that you had no desire to part with you  complain loudly while slapping the ground. It is pretty funny actually, but I doubt it will be funny when you are two and doing it in public.

What I like About This Age:
Oh little one, you can make us laugh so hard. You know when you are funny too because you make this goofy scrunched up face and show off your teeth when you do something goofy. You also show us how much you love us now. You will be crawling around exploring your ever expanding world and all of the sudden you will stop, crawl over to me or Papi and lay your head on us for a moment and then venture back into the world again. You also like to give us kisses when we least expect it, an open slobbery mouth against our cheek, leaving a mark of baby drool sliding down our skin. Oh, those baby hugs and kisses are one of the few things in life that are complete perfection.