I have been a stupendously bad blogger. I have wanted to write out my feelings about Olive every day, but instead, I find myself taking more pictures, but I think for me, that is the way I’ll tell my stories when I’m older. If I see a picture, I can remember most of the details.
That said, I wanted to write about how completely charming Olive is right now. Eight months old on the 6th of November, and she couldn’t be more fun. I find myself thinking nearly every day,”This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life” That should tell you something – an eight month old baby is so dreamy! She’s sleeping from about 9:30 to 8 in the morning and other than a few set backs from teething, she sticks to that schedule. She still fights naps tooth and nail, but she will take a couple a day – sometimes three if we’re lucky. She’s just so ON, she hates settling down for a nap.
She is mobile and loves crawling. Except she doesn’t crawl perfectly – she sticks her right leg out in front of her while keeping her left knee on the ground and does this little crab walk as fast as she can. Consequently, there is always a permanent rug burn on her left knee/shin 🙂 She figured out how to go very slowly down the tiny step into our living room. We were so proud and clapped and clapped for her, and instead of being satisfied, she immediately turned around and went back up the step, and then back down about 3 more times. She shrieks with this crazy laugh when I’m behind her as she’s crawling and she will crawl faster to get away from me. She is ticklish under her chin and loves to laugh. Well, it’s a fake laugh, but it cracks us up and she loves to do it.
She will also “sing” along whenever I sing, or whenever we’re at church. It’s a high pitched squeal, but she only does it when there’s singing or music.
She’s begun to flirt. If Matt’s holding her, and she sees me, she’ll smile and then quickly turn away and bury her face in his shoulder. So I’ll go around behind him to look at her again and she’ll shriek and turn around the other way, laughing the whole time. When she wakes up from her naps, she’s typically not happy, but when she is, I will find her sitting up in her crib and when I come in the room, she will immediately go into crawling mode to get away from me while laughing.
I’m telling you, living with her is the most fun I’ve ever had.
She loves to eat. She has begun to show her appreciation by very loud cow-like “Mmmmmm’s” and will beat her hands on the tray. Yeah, we’re trying baby sign language, but we’re not diligent with it, so she hasn’t picked up the sign for “more” yet, and honestly, it’s pretty low on my priority list to get her to do it. I’m cooking for her and just pick up a little extra of whatever fruits or vegetables are on sale (means they’re in season, too – bonus!) and we roast the vegetables and then puree them up, and I usually combine two or three fruits into a chunky puree, and other than apples, I leave the fruits raw. We’ve not gone by the books, food-wise. We’ve had Thai coconut beef soup with crispy shallots – it got blended into baby food. Chicken fricassee, beef ragu, osso bucco and mushroom risotto, pumpkin ravioli – those have been our weekend fun meals and we just blend them up and she’s loved every one. I think the only time she isn’t a fan of food is when she’s tired. So we’ve learned to feed her when she’s happy!
We love you, baby girl, and we can’t wait for another month to hang out with you. You make every minute better.
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