Eight Months Old

We're a week late!  Disclaimer: Her eight month picture was taken today.  She didn't actually know how to sit on her 8 month birthday since that was the day she got her cast off. I know, what a spoiler for next month's post!

Stats: At 8 months old, Matilda weighed 14.5 pounds which puts her in the 6^th percentile for weight.  Still a wee one, but at least she’s still on the growth curve!  We didn’t get a good measurement of her length since we don’t want to stretch her legs down straight until they have loosened up a bit.

 

 

Sleep: No change.  Still waking twice at night to eat and taking 2-3 good naps during the day. 

Eat: Still nursing the same.  As far as solids, we’ve moved from just doing purees to doing more finger foods which she seems to enjoy.  In addition to the foods she already tried last month, she’s also had broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, turkey, chicken, and buttered bread.  Her favorites from this month are mango, strawberries, and cantaloupe.  She definitely prefers the sweets!  She likes drinking straight from a cup, although most of the liquid ends up down her front.

 

 

Play/ Milestones: No significant changes here either.  We visited family for Thanksgiving, and found out that she LOVES watching and playing with older kids.  She adores her cousins.  Jason hosted a stay-at-home dads play group at our house last week, and she had fun with that. 

 

This past month she also went on a few nature walks and we went back to the Renaissance festival for a day.  She loves observing the world from the Ergo carrier.

 

Matilda responds to her name (although she’s been doing that for a while now) and she’s also saying more consonants.  She can do M’s, B’s, N’s, G’s, and most recently D’s.  I think she’s also learning P’s… it’s just like she’s doing B’s, but really softly.  I’ve also heard her say “unga” a few times, but don’t know what she means by that.  She whines when she’s bored or tired and that usually sounds like “mmmmmm,” or if she’s more upset, “neeeeee”.  She also makes plenty of funny growls and screeches.  She’s also starting to laugh more, which is nice. 

 

 

This next month will be a huge transition for us as she gets used to playing on the ground vs. being in her spica table a majority of the time.

 

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update: Speaking of her spica cast, she got it removed on December 9th – her 8 month birthday!  Between her two casts, she was in them a total of 15.5 weeks.  Based on the x-rays, the doctor said that her hip is progressing nicely, so she only has to wear the Rhino cruiser brace at night.  It will still take months to years to fully be able to tell if we’re in the clear, but so far so good!  She was scared of the actual cast removal and didn’t like the x-rays, but other than that, she had a really good cast-off day.  Her skin was really dry and flaky under the cast, but improved after just one bath.  She was in a bit of pain a few days after her cast, but is doing much better now. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having a baby in a cast became second nature to us.  Now we have to adjust to having a non-casted baby.  She seems so small and fragile to us!  It will be fun to watch her start reaching gross motor skill milestones this next month.