8 Months

It's hard to believe, but Ben turned 8-months-old yesterday. It's amazing the developmental progress he's made in the last month. He went from only being able to sit up for a few minutes at time to almost crawling! This boy will be on the move very soon! In fact, in some ways he is very much mobile already. =)

Ben experiencing his new-found mobility of the walker!

Oh the joys of my kitchen towels getting pulled down constantly and my toes and ankles getting run over! ;o) But it is worth it to see his excitement and glee at the opportunity to be on the move and trying to keep up with his big sister.

He continues to be texture-sensitive with his foods and has to have everything smoothly pureed. He won't eat store-bought vegetables and meats, but will eat store-bought fruits so that is what we take with us on the go and the rest I make for him. The other night we ate the same thing he had (before it was pureed and we put it over rice). My nephews were pretty grossed out that they were eating "baby food" but it was actually pretty good (turkey, carrots, onion, celery, cranberries, chicken stock and thyme - it was Ben's most adventurous food yet and he gobbled it up!).

I can also foresee that I am going to have my work cut out for me with this little guy. Unlike his quiet, careful, gentle and somewhat scaredy-cat sister, Ben can be loud, adventurous, rambunctious and is already having fun getting into everything! When he's in the exersaucer he rocks back and forth like no body's business, and he's even perfected rocking (it looks somewhat like head-banging =) in his high chair so that he can actually move the highchair back about 2 feet so he can reach the blinds at the back door.

And here's the mischievous little guy caught red-handed as he's about to pull down a whole stack of books off the coffee table:

Ben adores his older sister and loves to play with her, rarely batting an eye when she shoves a toy into his face or grabs one out of his hand (boy, is she in for surprise when he gets older and can do the same back to her! =). One of his favorite new skills he learned last week is waving. He's also still loves to snuggle and cuddle, especially with his mama. =)

Me and my boy