eight months.

My baby is eight months old! And he is soooo much fun! There's never a calm moment at our house, unless he's sleeping. His little personality is just bursting at the seams, and he's quite a funny little dude. Lately he's been scrunching up his nose and making his mouth into a tight "O" shape, and it's the cutest thing. He also just recently found out how to army crawl, and now between rolling and army crawling, he's officially going everywhere and getting into everything. He's keeping me busy.

At eight months, Franz...

• still has only his two bottom teeth.
• started army crawling.
• still doesn't sleep through the night. He wakes up at least 3 times a night.
• says "nanana," "bababa," "dadada," and "mamama." 
• can click his tongue and smack his lips.
• loves solid foods (purees), mostly for the spoon, and just started eating puffs a few days ago.
• still wears size 4 diapers and size 12-18 month clothes.
• weighs about 24 1/2 pounds, and has really slowed down with his weight gain.
• loves baths but hates being dried off afterwards.
• got his first owie--a scratch on his big toe--on the day he turned 8 months old.
• laughs like a fool when you tickle his thighs, ribs, lower belly, and back.
• loves to stick his fingers in your mouth, and loves when you pretend to bite them.
• will lunge toward someone with his arms out if they ask to hold him.
• is so happy and so smily.
• is more clingy than usual, and would be held all day long if I'd let him.
• sleeps on his belly.
• loves everything shiny: sequins on my clothes, jewelry, zippers, etc.
• loves buttons, including belly buttons!
• also loves glasses, and pulls mine and Zac's off all the time.
• gives the best, open-mouthed kisses.
• loves the outdoors, even though it's blazing hot. We get the mail together every day.
• gets mad when you're eating and he's not.
• loves to drink water out of his sippy cup and out of mama's glass.
• really only cries when he's being put down to sleep, and when you put him down when he's being clingy.
• prefers to play with all of his toys at once, scattered all across the living room floor, than just one or two toys.
• loves to bang things together to see what sound they make: his binky on the bars of his crib, one of my bracelets on the tv speaker, a wooden block on another wooden block, etc.
• gets so excited when he sees Zac's face when he comes home from work. We're talking flailing arms, a big grin, and pushing mama away so papa can hold him.
• still has that sticky up hair, although it's barely starting to lie down.
• loves books, and is starting to realize that you can read them instead of eat them (but still loves to eat them).

Each stage that Franz goes through is my new favorite, so of course, 8 months is my favorite so far. He's so much fun to play with and I don't have to worry about breaking him; we can be a little rough with him and he actually thinks it's hilarious! He knows his mama and his papa, and gives us sweet kisses and holds onto us while stroking us with his finger. It melts my heart every single time. I love this beautiful boy of mine.

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