8 Months Old: Little Hummer

Dear Jake,

You are growing up too fast. You are crawling all over the place and getting into EVERYTHING. You are pulling yourself up and you want to stand all the time. You are very brave and you will pull yourself up and then let go and stand for a few seconds by yourself! You have banged your head too many times to count and you should probably wear a helmet. You are a tough little baby. I’m just glad you have learned how to slowly lower yourself into a sitting position when you are standing instead of just falling flat on your face.

The humming, oh the humming. It reminds me of the scene in Dumb and Dumber where they say, “You want to hear the most annoying sound in the world”. Your humming is giving me gray hair and wrinkles. You hum when you are hungry, thirsty, tired, or bored. Boy oh boy, are you easily bored. You are just so mad that you are a baby, but you are a little more content now that you can crawl and stand up. Keeping you entertained (and trying to keep the humming to a minimum) is nothing short of a full-time job. When we are out in public and the humming starts I usually start shoveling those Gerber cheeto things in your mouth and that will shut you up. Other times I give you a teething biscuit to go to town on. You are just like a dog with those teething biscuits. You make a huge mess and devour it, but it stops the humming. When we are at home I just let you hum. It’s really funny because you will be crawling around and playing with your toys and as happy as can be one minute, and the next minute you are bored out of your mind and humming. So then you are humming and crawling around and eventually you find something that momentarily stops the humming and peaks your interest, like tearing all the books off the shelf or pushing the dog door and sticking your head through it.

I have no idea why you suddenly decided you didn’t want to eat baby food anymore, so now you hum when I try to feed you. I have to practically stand on my head to get you to open your mouth. I kind of think since you have gotten some table food that you are just being a brat and refusing baby food. I would be more than happy to just give you table food, but you aren’t quite ready for that yet, even if you have do have 8 teeth! The thing is, you aren’t going to starve yourself and if you don’t eat much baby food one day then you make up for it by drinking more formula. Speaking of drinking formula, you are drinking it from a sippy cup! It is so much better because I would give you a bottle in the car and you would hold it and drink out of it for a while and then turn it upside down and squeeze the liner so that milk squirted all over the place. Sorry to end the fun. At least with a sippy cup and the “no throw” attached to it, you can’t make a mess. Even though you are taking a sippy cup and wouldn’t care if I never gave you a bottle again, I am still giving you a bottle at bedtime. You are my last baby and I want to cuddle with you and give you a bottle, at least for a few more months! You are growing up fast enough as it is.

You and Max are actually starting to “play” together. You will sit there with a bunch of blocks and watch Max build something and then promptly tear it down or eat it. Max is VERY patient with you though. I do get onto you for getting into stuff you shouldn’t and for taking stuff away from Max. If I tell you “no” in a strong, firm tone then you usually get your lip out and start crying. I’m just glad you are sensitive like your brother, but I fear you are going to be a bit more stubborn. Speaking of stubborn, you are a maniac in the bathtub and I cannot get you to stop standing up! I put this little floatie thing around you in the tub to keep you from diving face first into the water to get a toy, but you are constantly trying to stand up. Bath time has gotten shorter and shorter, especially when Dada isn’t here to help.

I love all the sounds you are making, baby babbling just melts my heart. You say Ma-Ma, Da-Da and Ba-ba, without discrimination. You squeal in delight and kick your legs all the time. I love it when you are swinging or I’m pushing you in the stroller and you kick the entire time. You are finally getting some hair! Everyone keeps asking me if I think you will have curly hair like Max, but it’s hard to tell since you don’t have much hair. The other day Dada said he saw some little hairs flipping up like a curl in the back, but I must say that I never thought Max would have curly hair, and I really don’t expect it for you. My favorite thing to do is get you out of your crib for the day, or after a nap and see you just sitting in the dark watching the door, or lately you have been standing at the edge of your crib when I come get you. You are always so happy in the morning and after your naps and I just love seeing that cute, chubby face smile at me as soon as I walk in the room. You are such a sweet boy and I am cherishing every moment of you being my baby, even if you do hum a lot.