Greta, 8 months

This month we finally got some sleep.  It involved a bit of crying (on Greta's part and my part, as well) but wasn't too traumatic once we set our minds to it.  For a while she got down to eating once a night, which is not bad considering she usually sleeps 12 to 14 hours at night, so it seemed too much to ask for her to not wake up at all.  She's now consistently back up to 2 feedings at night, but, again, sometimes as long as 14 hours of sleep, so that seems fair.

About a week ago she quit the swing.  We used to use it for that last stretch in the early morning when she seemed like she wanted to get up and play, but would instead fall back to sleep in the swing.  Then she quit it, cold turkey, and screamed bloody murder when we tried to put her in it.  The good news, though?  She is still sleeping that last stretch, and in her crib.

This month she got even more fun.  If she had her way, she would have me sit on the floor with her so she could pull herself to standing all. day. long.  Any time she's fussy I can always get her to calm down by letting her pull herself up on my arms.  She's not really good enough to do it on something like a table, yet (and we have no coffee table) which must be why she relies on me.  I'm in no hurry to have her walk, but she is seemingly very determined to do so.  She constantly practices taking steps, and while she's not really close to walking yet, she's making great strides.

She's not much for crawling, though.  She has learned to scoot around (mostly backwards) and spin around on the floor.  But she gets fed up with it pretty quickly and too frustrated to continue.

Another key development has been signing.  She signs "milk" when she wants a bottle.  Admittedly, she signs it at many other times as well, but it's an interesting insight into her psyche.  She will sign "milk" whenever she seeks comfort of some kind.  I've seen her fall over and instantly sign "milk".  And while she's taking a bottle, she will lay there and just sign "milk" the entire time.  This is her only sign so far, but has given us renewed commitment to signing in general.

Other favorite activities include shaking her head around wildly, I guess to see the world shake around. Only sound so far is "Dada" but she definitely knows her name.  She loves having her sister home all day, and is so totally infatuated with her (the feeling seems to be mutual).

Everywhere she goes the comments are "She's so happy!  Oh my gosh, is she always this happy?" and the answer is yes.  It is so effortless to get her to smile.  She's such a wonderful baby, and it makes me sad to think how little "baby" time we have left.