Lucas is 8 months!

I seriously do not know where the time has gone this month.  I'm sure its because so much has happened the last few weeks, and the amount of development Lucas has had is just beyond amazing this month.  We are moving into territory for sure!

Lucas started crawling, and he hasn't turned back since.  He literally took a few days to get the hang of it, and then there was no stopping him!  He moves around with such speed, and loves the fact that he can get to places all on his own.  His favourite game is in the evenings Gianni and I place ourselves at opposite ends of the hallway and Lucas races in between us.  Its cute, and his boundless energy is keeping me on my toes this month! 

He is learning to love independent play a lot more, although he still prefers to have me sit on the floor with him, unless he's truly entertained with whatever toy has grabbed his attention.  I love it when I'm making dinner, and he realizes I am not beside him playing, he makes his way to the kitchen and plants himself at my feet, or climbs my legs.  It makes moving around the kitchen tricky but we get around.  I need to start keeping a basket of "kitchen" toys for him there so he has something else to grab his attention while I cook and clean.

Coupled with the crawling Lucas has a new favourite activity...climbing and standing.  He will climb literally anything that will give him enough traction to pull himself into a standing position.  He recently started being able to hold himself standing on his own for a few seconds, and the thought that this may mean walking in the near future has me crying in a corner, cause he's growing up way to fast for my liking!

We introduced finger food the last few weeks and he's loving it.  Also we aren't really giving him strained food anymore, all his purees are course now and he seems to be preferring it that way.  He is loving chicken, as long as its cut up in bits and he can grab it himself, and apples are still his favourite fruit although he's loving peaches and canteloupe recently.  We gave him corn on the cob and a rib to gnaw on this month too, and he loved it!

He finally cut his first teeth last weekend, four in total are coming at the same time, front top and bottom, which kind of justifies his crabby mood lately, usually in the early morning.  His gums are still pretty red and sore, as they are coming through, but thankfully it hasn't affected his sleep at all.

Lucas is still sleeping 2 naps a day, usually a long nap in the morning, and a shorter one in the later afternoon.  He's been rocking his naps lately, which I'm sure is a byproduct of all the moving around he is doing now.  He went through a phase at the beginning of the month of 5am wake up calls, and it was not pretty, for me at least, for him he could party all morning!  Thankfully he's back to his usual self and is waking up at 6:30-7 now, and his bedtime is usually about 8-8:15.

I'm loving seeing Lucas' personality shine through this month.  He is a cheeky little fellow and loves to hide and play peek-a-boo.  He is pretty much always smiling or laughing at something.  He is in love with his daddy this month big time, its the cutest thing to see him crawl over to him when daddy gets home from work, and then pat him on the chest when he's picked up.  He's starting to wave, not sure if he gets that it means hi or bye, but he loves to just wave his hands at strangers when we go shopping.  He has experienced a little of the stranger anxiety this month, when people have approached him, especially men; he loves when children say hello to him though. 

I can't believe there is only 4 months until his first birthday.  He's is fast becoming a little boy instead of a baby!  Enjoy the pics while I go sob in a corner!