Ilona: eight months old 8.8.13

8 months old and you're changing the game once again. you started eating solid foods: bananas, carrots, potatoes, rice cereal and my personal favorite, AVOCADOS! (oh, and there was that one lick of my mommy's ice cream cone- shh!). you love to take sips from just about anything we drink out of, it's always water, so no worries there. cups, water bottles, mugs... you name it! so, we invested in a super cool mini stainless steel thermos with a sippy top so you can play like mommy and daddy and drink out of your very own bottle. well, to be honest, you never really drink anything, just a lot of chewing, but you're happy so we're happy. what else is new? you can navigate around the floor quite freely now...no blanket is big enough to contain you. you're not crawling yet, but you get yourself into a push up position, and then push with all your might up to your knees, and in the process scoot backwards. there's also your rolling which seems to work for you now- tummy to back and back to tummy all over the floor in pursuit of the next thing you want to chew. you've also learned to pull on the blanket to drag toys closer to you. why move when you can move the toy? good question. also new, you can sit completely on your own for long periods of time, but that's not your preferred way to relax... standing is! you love to stand and just need a little bit of help with the balance, but you've got quite the leg strength to keep yourself steady. i already see swimming in our future. although, your daddy says soccer, but we can let him think whatever he wants :). we've continued teaching you baby sign and you know the signs for "leche", "mas", and "all done" quite well. we're also trying to teach you "mommy", "daddy", "please" and "thank you"--- in spanish of course. i am speaking to you every day here and there in spanish, as well, in hopes to raising you to be bilingual and able to relate with so many more people because of your language skills. we'll see... it's a work in progress i guess. this month was a big transition month for you since mommy went to work pretty much full time for her internship and daddy stayed home with you during the day. you two were quite busy with projects around the house, but you seemed to find time for a lot of playing and goofing around. i think your daddy currently has over 1000 photos of the two of you from the past month. you love the reverse lens on the iphone and seemingly could stare at yourself all day. oh boy. your daddy helped you get on a better routine with a morning nap each day and more spaced out eating. this was very helpful to get you ready to go to day care at ms. debbie's soon. you're growing up so fast-- all mom's must say this, but i can seriously hardly believe it. AND, we have the pictures to prove it, but goodness. you're like a different baby each month. you've grown up right before our eyes at 17 pounds, 9 ounces and 27 inches long.