First, Maia is now 8 months (as of the 22nd). I think I mentioned a while ago she had a second tooth...but if not, she has two teeth. And she smiles a lot as if to show them off (not that you can really see them, as she usually also sticks her tongue out a lot). She drools like crazy, so much that she is constantly rashy and irritated on her chin and cheeks, due to her eczema. We are doing our best to lotion/Aquaphor her up, but she drools faster than we can apply.
She has gotten far more mobile. Though not happy about it, if left on her belly she will pull herself along the floor and has gone as far as 3 feet pretty quickly. So now we have to watch what is on the floor. She is also moving into the stage of sticking things into her mouth, so that's even more cause to clean up. Liam has been warned about his small toys. Maia also love standing all the time, though she doesn't really like us holding her hands to help her stand. She wants to hug onto us while standing, or will stand in our laps while bracing her hands against our chests or arms. We've also managed to have her stand up against the couch, when positioned just right...there is a picture down below of her doing this, for almost 5 whole minutes. I really can't imagine her not crawling by end of January, and not walking well before her first birthday in April.
When music is on, she often sways back and forth, mostly side to side, but sometimes forward and back rocking-horse-style. She also bobbles her head back and forth side to side, especially if she sees you doing it.
Oh, and she can totally hold her own bottle now. Which is awesome, because that allows us to do things while she is eating. (check out pictures further down) She eats solids now, and usually will eat an entire container of baby food at dinner. So far the only thing she really balked at was peas, and last night she ate half a container without complaining this time, so maybe she is okay with it.
She "talks" too, trying out different sounds. For a while she was doing soft sounds like "tss tsss", and also "da da da da" a lot. Then she tried "nnnn". Lately she has been doing "gagaga", or more like "gquaa gquaa". And she has added "talking in her nose" to her repertoire...making sounds that would rival Britney Spears' ability to sing nasally. She will also sometimes make sing-songy sounds if there is music playing.
She plays with toys by picking them up, smacking them against things, throwing them around, staring intently at them, smacking them with her hands, and handing them to Liam or Mommy or Daddy. She is showing more interest in the things she can't have to play with, than the things you hand her or that she has played with many times before. She gets very frustrated if you deny her something.
I literally just weighed Maia. Dude, I was thinking that she is somewhere in the 16-pound range, probably close to 17-lbs. Nope. 18-lbs 2-oz! Holy heavy baby! Heh. Of course, she DOES have very chunky legs...more rolls than a deli has, I always joke. I swear her thighs are bigger than mine. Didn't bother with height. Her hair is getting a little longer, to the point where almost all of it is long enough to lay down now...just a little on the sides stick out...so I still call it Heihachi-hair. But in another month it should definitely be long enough. At least it's long enough to look cute with one of those bow headbands (seen in Christmas pictures below).
I am sure there is more, but right now I am blanking and I still have a ton of pictures to throw at you, from over the last month, as well as some Christmas pictures. I will have a Christmas post on my main blog (link to the right), which will probably have more pictures there if you want to check them out. I also need to update Liam's blog, and you'll probably see some of these same pictures there, since Liam is in them.
This begins the Christmas pictures, pretty much, though some are a few days before Christmas.
Christmas Eve at Sandy's house
Christmas morning: Liam had picked out a present for Maia, and was totally helping her to open it.
Grandmom and PopPop's house
Post Christmas
