Eight Months Old! (September 21, 2010)

Scarlett turned eight months old last week. She's had a big month! Speaking of big, our girl is up to 21+ pounds. Not sure how long she is, but she's wearing 12-18 month clothes and is hanging out of her infant car seat (on the agenda for this weekend: switch out her infant car seat for her big girl car seat).

She still isn't officially crawling, but she's soooooo close. She scoots and rolls and can get back into a sitting position from a crawling position or from lying down. For the last several days we find her sitting up in her crib when we go in to get her in the morning. Another new trick is the "bear crawl" position -- hands and feet on the ground and butt in the air -- but she just sort of hovers like that. She's trying to pull up on things, but can't stand for very long unassisted. She can make her way across a room through a series of her various maneuvers, but just not the official "knee crawl." We did some serious babyproofing last week, and I think it was just in time.

Scarlett is also becoming increasingly verbal. Lots of babbling, squealing, grunting, and one of her funnier talents -- panting. She's moved from mamamamama to bababababa. I've been trying to get her to add dadadada to her repertoire, but no luck yet. She's been waving "bye-bye" for a week or so now, but it's been spotty. Then on Monday she did it and even said "baba" (her version of "bye-bye," apparently) at the same time! She's done it twice today, so I don't think it's a fluke.

On Monday we also realized that she's sprouting her first teeth! We're pretty sure her two front lower chompers are making an appearance, but we have only felt them with our fingers since she won't even let us get a sneak peek. She twists and squirms like an oiled pig and pushes your hands away when you try to pry her mouth open to take a look at them (or wipe her nose, or her eyes, or mess with her face at all, really). And she's amazingly STRONG. Two adults trying to pin her down and get her to open her mouth are no match for Miss Scarlett.

And she's finally growing some hair! Don't expect to see her in pigtails anytime soon, but she's definitely not a baldy anymore.

Here are some pictures of Scarlett on her eight month birthday. Papa Tig was in town and got to celebrate the big day with her. (He even babysat that night while Chris and I went to a party, and they both did great!)