What she's up to now

Before I forget, I want to write down some of Madeline's milestones. She is 8 months old tomorrow, too.

I mentioned we have given Madeline a cup in the last post. We skipped the "sippy" cups altogether and went straight to a straw. She already knew how to suck and since she doesn't drink milk out of a bottle, she never bottle-fed herself, thus she never learned to angle the bottle upward to get the milk. It didn't take her long to learn how to get the water out. We don't have to learn any new "sippy-like" cups ever again! I do have to monitor her water input because I think she drinks just to drink. She will down at least a cup and that's not good for a baby's sodium balance.

She is a master puller-upper. Man alive, she learned this quickly. She used to be slow and in less than a month, she can use anything to pull herself up. She doesn't need anything to grasp on to - she uses the walls to balance and stand up. She is also "walking" down the couch and between furniture that is next to each other. On rare occasions, I have also seen her let go, hover without holding on to anything, then plop down. I'm grateful that she's not intimidated by falling. She can entertain herself for quite a long time by pulling up, plopping down and pulling up again, etc. She has also taken to pulling up with toys in both hands. This produces quite a few falls.
She can climb the stairs. (I'm shaking my head, but you can't see it). Craig watches her on Sundays while I practice with my volunteer group. She is so shy that he takes her away from all the excitement and usually down to the car or into a (carpeted) stairwell. She climbed the stairs this past Sunday and Craig was so proud. Me, not so much. Since Sunday, she has also discovered our stairs and have climbed up the entire way. We are behind her because she does lose her balance at times, but mostly, she scales the stairs very quickly.

Lots of vowels but no real words. She has said dadadadadadada, but it isn't in reference to anything.

She has learned the pincher grasp and can pick up her Cheerios and puffs. Half of them get stuck to her hands or fall into the high chair, but she can feed herself.
She has four teeth and I know two more upper teeth are about to break through. Her most distinct teething symptom is a fever and she's always hot. I have to be careful when we go outside now because she's already hovering around 100 and too much time in the heat will make her temperature soar through the roof.

She can actually crawl now, no more low crawl. This means she is gaining speed daily. Lots of speed! I don't remember exactly when she figured out she could use her knees, but it's been a couple of weeks at least.

Madeline grew out of the cuddly stage very early. She wanted down on the ground to learn new things and to play with her toys. Recently, I've noticed she wants to be held more. I am loving this. She still wants down quite a bit, but she will let me walk around the house in the mornings and hold her. If I put her down, she starts to cry. I am much less productive in the morning now, but I don't mind one bit!She is still waking up quite a few times at night. She will immediately stand up and I can tell from her cry if she wants to be picked up. She has this whine when she's awaken and still wants to sleep. I let her put herself back to sleep and she is usually comfortable in 5-10 minutes. She will sit up and stand up, but she is learning that you can't sleep that way. However, she will try to lay back down while still in a half-sitting position. We usually try to move her out of this position and sometimes it wakes her up and the game is over, and sometimes she gets comfortable again. I've also noticed that she starts to crawl/sit/stand while really asleep. If I were to pick her up, she would be out cold. Maybe she'll turn into a sleep walker.

As you can tell by most of these pictures, she chews everything. Also, I've seen curls after her bath. They don't last, but it's cute.
She is getting big and heavy. I guess she's pushing 20 pounds now. Eating solids has beefed her up!

So many things, so little time. She's grown so fast. Hopefully, I'll upload some videos soon.