Grayson at 8 months

It seems like I was just sitting down to write Grayson's 7 month update and now it's time for another.

We don't go back to the pediatrician until next month, but our home scale says our baby boy is just shy of the 20 lb. mark. He's nearing the weight limit for our carrier/car seat so we're shopping around for a new one.

Still no sign of teeth and only a light dusting of peach-fuzz hair, but what Grayson has lacked in physical development he's made up for in other milestones this month. He's become a full-on mobile man and although he drags or scoots his legs more than he uses them to crawl, it doesn't slow him down.

He's been sitting unassisted for some time now and is about to master pulling himself from a lying position into a sitting position. He flips from his stomach onto his side and grabs his pant leg like he's posing, but he's really working on leveraging himself to sit up.

Luckily for our ears the crazy squawking has calmed down tremendously and he's back to vocalizing letter sounds. His favorites are bababa or vavava, but every once in a while we can get an "m" or "d" sound out of him.

I think we may be nearing the stage of separation anxiety. He's becoming extremely aware of when we leave the room and even his teachers at school have noticed he only sleeps a certain direction in his crib so he can see out the end and look at them. They've tried turning him the other way away, but he flips himself around and once he sees they are there he can immediately fall asleep.

Grayson definitely thrives on having a routine. I don't mean this in a rigid sense, but just that he's beginning to anticipate the order of events. For example, our evening routine is consistent in that he eats, we play, mom and dad eat, bath time (every other night), bottle and then bed. He knows that when we sit in the rocking chair with the lights off and his aquarium white noise machine is on, it's time for a book, the bottle and to wind down. As if to signal he knows the program, he grabs the collar of my shirt like he's got to hold on while drinking because that's just the way it works.

What is not routine these days are diaper changes. They have become a wrestling match lately, as is changing his clothes. He can flip over to his stomach in a flash and before you can barely react he's trying to crawl around the changing pad -- not such a safe idea. I think he's even trying to crawl in his sleep because we go in to check on him and he'll be asleep on his knees with his butt up in the air. It's too cute.

On the entertainment front, peek-a-boo is a daily favorite around our house. Grayson has liked this game for a while and lately he's discovered even more fun in pulling the blanket down himself to reveal your face or his. We're also working on hand motions to the itsy bitsy spider and he's amazed at the dexterity of his own fingers (and mine). Oh, if it only took so little to entertain him like this for the rest of his life.

That's the latest news around here. This next month promises to be one of the biggest of Grayson's life to date. He's welcoming a cousin and a playmate, attending his first wedding, gaining an uncle and traveling back to Houston for a visit.