Shane - 8 months

August 6th - 8 months old! He is growing fast and A D Highly Delightful! (I'm very proud of that term btw. I'm also scared to Google it and see if someone came up with it before me)

Many things have changed, but other remain the same. Whenever Shane is sleeping and I can't clearly see his face, my heart stops for a moment until I see the rising and falling of his breathing. He's old enough now that he can easily roll and crawl around if something did obstruct his airways, but it still puts me at unease.

The biggest update is about Shane's crawling! It's more of a full-body drag than an up-on-his-knees sort of crawl, but this kid is mobile! He can crawl the entire lengths of rooms, turn, and get in to trouble with frightening ease (you may recall the jaws themed pursuit of the cat's tail). Whenever the boy sets his eyes on something, he's bloody determined to get it. I find I'm constantly dragging him away from something by an ankle only to find he resumes course the moment I let him go. Shane still doesn't have a good grasp on what to do with obstacles between him and whatever it is he wants. He'll ram head first into things and cry if I let him. The boy has also been a bit more fussy in general as of late. He's still a happy baby overall, but he can get quite unhappy by the second and third time Daddy has yanked him away from a tasty wire or power cord he was homing in on.


On the food front, Shane is eating solid foods without problem. He used to wear more food than he actually ate, but he scarfs down 4 ounces of fruits and baby oatmeal with ease. We've only tried around that much because the containers we bought were that size! Shane prefers bananas, carrots, apples and maybe stawberries (there's an apple + strawberry mix he likes).  He dislikes pears and sweet potatoes.  I've been mixing baby oatmeal or rice cereal into his food to thicken it, but Carrie just bought some "Stage IIs" so I may not need to do that. They're not as thick as I would make his food, but the flavors! Some of them actually appeal to me. Banana-Peach-Granola?  I'm necessarily a peach fan, but two out of three of those sound pretty good!

I've been spending lots of time with Shane this summer. Nine days out of ten, he wakes up to my face and falls asleep to it. It's amazing the kid doesn't have nightmares. I watch him most morning up until it's shower and go to work time, and then I do a fair amount in the evenings as well. We're still going for our nightly father-son walks around the neighborhood as well. We read books together, he drools on me, and he claws at me and tries to yank my hair straight out of my head. It used to be cute. Now, it hurts! My son is strong.

Speaking of strong, my son is amazing. My parents gave us a walker than he loves to tear around in the kitchen in. It's a sight to behold. He'll come screeching around a corner all smiles and crash to a stop. He can't reach up high and the tray of the walker prevents him from opening any cabinets, so it was a safe way to keep Shane close by and entertained while I'd work on dishes. That is, until we both realized Shane can open the oven doors. The kid will reach up and drag the damn thing down! I have to hold the door shut and Shane starts to pull HIS WALKER up off the ground he's pulling so hard. My son can't sit up from laying down, but he has leg, arm, and back strength to spare.  I'm sure the abs will come in one of these days.

Things Shane loves:
-The outdoors.
-Animals of all shapes and sizes.
-New people
-Food. (Milk or solid)
-Singing
-TV (I'm already worrying he's an addict).
-Wires and cords
-Chewing
-Paper, books, and cardboard
-Remote controls and cell phones
-Gnawing
-Fast movements
-Crawling
-Jumping
-Standing
-Pulling hair
-His hypno-DVD
-Sleeping (Hallelujah!)

Things Shane dislikes:
-Putting on bibs
-Getting his nails trimmed (Though it's more he doesn't hold still and gets pissy if I try to make him settle)
-Sweet potatoes and pears
-Getting in and out of the car seat (though he's fine for the ride. He doesn't like the straps being out of chewing range)
-Failing to get a chew toy into his mouth by the second or third try (quitter)
-Being offered a bona-fide chew toy when a remote/book/power cord/etc is obviously available.

Shane's looking up at me and wondering why I'm not being more playful. I'll have to stop the entry here. Hopefully the label thingies I'm trying to use are going to work too.

Peace!