The 8 month milestone has come and gone and here we have Nye's latest monthly photo.
I realise I still need to do a major compilation of all of these washing basket photos but I've been in the middle of cataloging all our photos and it will take some time to get myself back on track.
EAT
Nye is still loving his food. It took me a while to get into the routine of feeding him 3 full meals but we are on top of this now and he consistently eats all his food. He's never really turned his nose up at anything, he just gets frustrated and bored when he finds something difficult to eat.
I often feel like he has quite a boring diet, but having spoken to others it seems he is quite the flavour and texture connoisseur. Yesterday was a bit of a lazy day for me, so he's had porridge fingers, blueberry's and strawberry's for breakfast. Then for lunch he had eggy bread with broccoli and for tea, tomato and spinach pasta, ricecake fingers with apple for dessert.
He still loves his water. We got him a new sippy cup and he can now hold this himself and drink when he is thirsty. His new cup allows the water to flow from it more easily than the ones we had previously and its quite amazing seeing him make his own choices about the food he eats first and when he needs a drink. (We lay it all out in front of him for him to get on with)
At the beginning of the month I was trying to give him milk before and after each meal but he was consistently throwing up huge amounts of it. Because of this, I stopped topping him up, and reduced his milk feeds to once in the morning when he wakes up and once before bed. Since he was born I have intended to breastfeed him until he no longer wants milk so I was surprised that he was stopping the majority of his feeds at what seemed like a young age. However, recently he has been a bit grouchy in the day time and my last resort has been to give him a feed. So far, he has not been throwing up his extra milk and has settled back into playing after a quick 2-3 minute feed. I really have no idea what caused him to be sick before and what has changed now, but I am thankful we found a solution that suits us both.
SLEEP
When I last wrote, Nye was having very disrupted sleep after a previous period of consistent night sleeping. I am pleased to report that the sleeping has now been cracked and we are back on track. Friends have been commenting that I am looking far more alive, and I certainly feel better mentally and physically. At the time, we tried everything we could to work out why Nye had suddenly stopped sleeping through. After eliminating all factors, one by one, food times, nap times, bed time, teething, temperature we were left in a situation where we felt our only solution was to leave him to settle himself. As someone who has always gone to him when he is sad and upset it was very difficult, but thankfully after two nights we were back on the straight and narrow and he's been back to sleeping 6.30-6.30 consistently since then. He also managed to do this when we went to stay at my mums house, which is uncharacteristic because he has never slept well when not in his own cot.
He now takes two naps a day of varying lengths. These are usually from 9-10am and 1-2pm. I might start testing out a short afternoon nap, but I worry that too much day time sleep will have a knock on night time effect.
Another big development has been the introduction of his new cot bed. As he has been getting bigger, we knew that we would need something with a side that drops down. It wasn't an urgent thing as he was still happy in his cot, but when one came up on freecycle we jumped at the chance. A bit of scrubbing later, the cot bed above emerged. We then got him a lovely coir and wool mattress (
Kub Care) which should last him until he is 5/6. It is beautifully soft but also firm.
BATH
Nye is certainly a bath lover these days. He has gone through stages of liking water and hating water and at 8 months we are certainly back to the loving water scenario and he gets a bath every other night. Neil usually baths him and it lifts my heart to listen to the laughter and chattering coming from the bathroom as I prepare Nye's bed time clothes and bedding ready for him as he exits the bath. In particular he loves being splashed with water and playing with his rubber duck. We have a few bath toys, including a mini watering can. As the water pours down on him from above, he stretches his body out to get as close to the water as possible.
The only problem here is his exit from the bath. He hates getting changed. I am actually quite tempted to write that in capitals, because that gives a better representation of HOW much he hates it. He can sometimes be distracted for short periods of time, usually only if there is two of us on hand to sing songs and do actions in excited tones. However, when you get to a point where you need to move him in a certain way to get his nappy on, he screams blue murder. Shouty, noisy, streaming tears and fights us off by turning over or tightening his entire body. Our neighbours must think we routinely torture him whenever we have to change him. He seem to hate it so much, I started to wonder if he was actually in some kind of physical pain from lying on his back. But, if you stand him up the tears and tantrum immediately fade and he grins at you as if to acknowledge that he got his own way.
PLAY
Nye still enjoys his usual toys, and has a few new ones to add to his toy box including a wooden ring stacker my mum bought for him. He still loves to stand and now loves to stick out his hand for me to hold so he can walk back and forth across the room. Every day his walking get better and better, but his balance is still not there. He can stand holding himself steady with one hand and cruise around from object to object but he does have the odd accident. He is currently experimenting with squatting down to pick things up, but hasn't quite got the hang of being able to do this every time. Instead favouring to move on to the next object.
He is still in pretty much the same place with regards to crawling as he doesn't get much chance to practice as he hates being laid down on his front or back. The exception to this rule is if he is completely naked. Whilst in the nude, he developes a new enthusiasm for rolling around and dragging himself across his room, as far away from the towel I have put down for him, to keep him (and the carpet) clean.
SPEECH
His talkativeness changes depending on the day. His first proper sounds were Da Da but he doesn't yet understand meanings. I have heard him say a few other things once or twice and I am really trying to push the M sound but so far, nada. I'm pretty certain he knows his own name, but this could just be because he recognises my voice saying his name. I think he may understand the word No, as saying it usually causes tears (again this could also be related to the fact I'm usually taking something off him!)
SOCIALISING
He is still the happiest chappy on the block and loves the attention of others. He learnt at a very young age that smiling at people makes people smile back and he just loves it. He also loves the sound of people laughing and gets so excited and shreaks, especially if he has been the one to make people laugh. He has recently started to develop a bit of an attachment to me and doesn't like to be passed off on others. He is ok after he is warmed up a bit and loves to interact with others whilst glancing across at me from time to time.
He has now attended 3 weddings and the last one was definitely the most successful. He hates to sit quietly, (who doesn't) but this time did very well, without having to be escorted out by daddy. Apparently at the last wedding it was my turn to leave the ceremony if he did require a change of scenery so I think Nye must have taken this on board and kept quiet. That and the fact he was moderately bribed with apple biscuits...
We are very much looking forward to how the next month develops and already have some plans for his 1st birthday and first Christmas which are drawing ever closer.
