Some More Random Thoughts About Sami @ 8 Months

• When Sami's sleeping on her back in her crib, and you go in to check on her from above, her little eyes are just crescents of black lashes -- so beautiful.
• She's sitting up on her own very stably now, so you can plunk her down anywhere while you're doing other stuff--say, laundry, or something--and when you walk back in from another room, and she's just sitting there so dearly, looking up at you, she just looks so tiny and at the same time so much a little person... it is difficult for me to describe, but it makes me feel so protective towards her. She just looks so small in the world, doing such a "grown-up" thing as sitting there by herself.
• "They" said this could happen at various stages of Sami's development, that she'll favor one parent over the other, so I've tried to steel myself for it, however, in the past two days, if I am holding her in my arms and her daddy arrives, she actually squirms around and pushes away from me (this has never happened before) trying to get to him. The fact that he delights in it so much in no way mitigates the gravity of the matter, naturally. ;-)
• Sami eats amazing portions of her food now. But her weight gain--previously so alarmingly near the top of the percentile for her age--has now plateaued. As if her little body knew to pack on the pounds early on to prepare for this stage where she's now eating "real" food and becoming so much more physically active. She's at 20+ pounds now, has been for weeks, and just seems to be remaining there.
• Sami will try any food we try to give her. She loves her morning cereal, usually has a vegetable and fruit for lunch, and some kind of meaty little vegetable dish for dinner, with more fruit for dessert. As for big people food, she dislikes mashed potatoes and baked beans (well no, I don't mean together), but enjoys a little bite of fried eggs, some tidbits of Italian Dry Salame, and had a little taste of pancake the other morning. She can also sort of drink from a bottle cap--like if I'm having bottled water on one of our walks, she will gamely attempt sips from the cap offered up. She loves ice cream and anything cold. And is disdainful of anything warmed up too much. She likes organic baby foods (and their heavier, more realistic textures) much better than conventional, and then I'm able to be a bit more relaxed about the concerns of feeding her meats from animals given growth hormones and the like. I wasn't too worried about vegetables and fruits, since those get dosed with pesticides and herbicides from the outside, and generally lose their peels and are so strained that I don't believe she winds up eating much of the outside--but meats I felt differently about. I'm not a health-food freak or anything, but growth hormones in any quantity in such a tiny body concerned me. And so now that she loves them more anyway, and the price is only about 10 cents more per jar, we'll be sticking with the organics for a while.
• She "chews." Too cute since she only has gums with teeth right underneath, and those two front bottom teeth. But she watches Daddy and I very intently while we're eating and has finally started to mimic our chewing when she eats.
• Changing her diaper has now turned into a wrestling match. She stretches and flips over in a heartbeat and so with one hand you're trying to hold her down, and that only leaves one hand with which to actually change and apply the new diaper. She takes it to be great sport, laughing and giggling about the whole struggle. Comical.
• She went to her first funeral yesterday. It was for the mother of one of Michael's best friends, and we just sat in the back of the church in the "crying" room. None of that. Nope. She certainly wasn't crying--she was in high spirits, full of noises and laughs and her signature "barks." And of course the concept of "shhhh" is completely lost on her, since the louder the better at our house, it seems. We stayed about 10 minutes since she seemed hellbent on audibly upping the fun level. And her father and I got the giggles about it.
• She now will say Dad-dad-dad on cue. And if you ask her "Where's Daddy? Where's Dad-dad-dad?" she will look for him and definitely associates that with him when you say it. But still not so much when she says it on her own. (He claims differently, of course.) To her it still seems to mostly just remain a few favorite syllables. And sadly, we don't even seem to be close to eliciting anything resembling Mom-mom-mom yet.
• It is a daily amazement for me just how well I know her. I mean, I've just never experienced knowing another person this well. I "get" her every little nuance, and it all feels like such a privilege to be granted this much insight into someone else. (I know, I know... it won't always be this way... but for now, it is amazing.)
• When you walk into any area where she is and she sees you, she lights up in a big smile. Every single time. Like you're the best thing she could have thought up to see next. I can wait a while for Mom-mom-mom, I guess. :-)

Notes About Sami at 7 1/2 Months

This one of her standing up is kind of “pretend” of course, because she can’t “really, really” stand by herself yet, although if I give her something to hold onto, like the railing on her crib, she can now stand there for at least 5 minutes by herself without keeling over. Anyway, so this one was a fun picture, where I had just let go of her, they snapped the photo, and then I grabbed her again.

She is now officially “scooching” around. If we put her on the floor, she can move several feet in any direction, but she does it by writhing around, and scooching herself backwards. No forward crawling yet, but I feel she’s getting very close. And we can no longer plunk her into a chair or on the couch – in an instant she can be over onto her belly and moving around, and in danger of falling. (Or, as it turns out this morning... not just in danger of falling, but falling. She has her first little goose egg on her forehead from just such a scenario. Daddy feels horrible, "I just turned away for a second!") So it is only floor or playpen for her now. Unless we have her in her high chair or something equally secure.

She’s also now flipping herself over in bed, as of this week. She used to always sleep on her back, which we all know you MUST do. But now that she’s older, that’s not the concern it was. And while we put her on her back to go to sleep, she then flips over and sleeps on her tummy now. And I swear she sleeps much more soundly that way, so that’s fine. And adorable, if I do say so.

She has now added meats to her diet regime, in addition to her much-loved morning cereal, vegetables and fruits. Which is also great, because if we give her a good dinner of baby food with meat in it, it seems to stick to her ribs a little better than just veggies and fruits, and she’s back to regularly sleeping 11 or 12 hours at night. I think because she doesn’t get so hungry anymore. She usually goes to bed now around 7pm, and sleeps until 6 or 6:30 most the time. Sometimes even longer. And she still usually takes a short nap around 9am, then she’s good for another 2 or 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Heavenly, if you’re a parent trying to get other stuff done. J

I also give her tastes of lots of different things that we may be eating… she’ll try about anything, but then clamps up if it isn’t to her liking. She loves ice cream, and she’s tried milk, fruit smoothies, refried beans, baked beans, potatoes, fried eggs, and even a bite of a french fry the other day at lunch. (I'm sure her dad was so proud that I had introduced her to salty, fried foods.) Her two bottom teeth are very visible now when she smiles, and the others aren’t far behind – you ought to see her chaw on your finger back on her molars every chance she gets.

Sami and Dad

"Pretend" Standing 

Sami at 7 and a half months