Eyes: Holding strong with the unique shade of blue/green/grey.
Hair: The color is now a golden/reddish brown; still looking more like my hair than Steven's. And sadly it kind of looks like she has a toupee on because it is really long on top, but then has gotten thinner underneath. And I have to either put it up in a pony or to the side with a bow/clip to keep it out of her eyes!
Sleep: Right after her 8 month update, going down for naps and bedtime became playtime a lot of the time, anywhere from 1 minute to 40 minutes. Since she can sit and pull herself to standing so easy, playing in her crib became something she wanted to do before she finally slept. There's been a handful of times we've had to go in to her room, lay her down and remind her it was either nap time or bedtime (we do this if she has been playing/talking for about 25 minutes). Usually she doesn't get back up and gives in to sleep after that. So her schedule now is waking between 6:30-7am (we'll wake her if she's not up at this time-so it doesn't affect the rest of her days "routine"). We put her down for her first nap between 9/9:30am and this nap has been shorter; lasting on average an hour and a half (but if it's an unusual day and she naps longer, we won't let her go past 12pm). Then she's ready to go down for her second nap between 2/2:30pm (and if it's an unusual day, and she goes longer than her average 2 hour nap we won't let her go past 5pm). Then we still aim for her to go down for bed between 7/7:30pm. She still sleeps, on average, a solid 11 hours! I don't think I've shared this, but we have had the same nap/bedtime routine for the last few months. I believe it really helps her wind down and learn the cues for sleep. And we have her fall asleep on her own, in crib, every time. There are some days where she is fast asleep in our arms, but we wake her before we put her down. Sometimes you wouldn't even know she was ready for sleep because she is so easily stimulated and doesn't really show signs of being tired, until it's way late or you start doing the routine. If you wait too long to do nap/bedtime there will be whining/fussing/and even a little crying. And since we, or anyone for that matter, don't want to have a whining/fussing/crying little girl on their hands, we start the process around the same time, every time and she thrives off of it. I will also add she can be flexible, like on Sunday mornings for church and Thursday night for our small group. But if we throw her off for several days in a row, it doesn't go well.
Eating: Ellie continues to nurse 6 times a day and has solids 3 times a day. Introducing more solids into her diet has been going really good. In addition to the foods listed in her last update, she has had blueberry, carrot, chicken, turkey, corn, pears, pineapple, prunes, rice, tomato, peas and yogurt melts. We have to make sure everything is mashed/pureed really well since she still has NO teeth! Every day we are checking her gums and still nothing! What the heck, right?! Where are they?! Wish us luck with teething because she's probably going to pop four out at the same time : /
Milestones/accomplishments:
- Shortly after her 8 month update she started hand and knee crawling consistently every time
- Pulls herself up to standing with literally anything she can get her hands on; even using the wall, ALL the time
- Goes back down to sitting from standing
- Side steps along ALL the furniture and around her activity table
- Picks up little things with her forefinger and thumb and brings to mouth
- Has stood all on her own for up to 10 seconds a couple times
- Tries to repeat some words. Nothing is too clear as day, but she has repeated: hi (iiii), yay (aaaa), fish (ish), book (ook), drum (dru), thank you (ta yu), shoe (sho) and dada. And when the Alphabet and fish counting song come on her activity table, it sometimes sounds like she's trying to sing along to it
- Understands when you are being firm and saying no thank you to something she's doing. But won't always continue to listen-she's too interested in whatever it is she's going after!
- When you help her walk around by holding her hands
- Anything that is plugged into the wall...but of course we pull her away before she actually gets her hands on it!
- Any funny noises you make with your mouth. And she really likes it when you copy the noises she makes
- The song 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', with the motions of course
- Patting things; toys, the furniture, your arm and back. A-dorable
- Giving high fives (but not to everyone, she's kind of shy sometimes)
- Helping turn the pages of her books
- Drinking water out of our cups
- When other babies cry-she will start getting sad or cry as well
- Eating peas and chicken by themselves
- Us getting the boogies out of her nose
- Drinking water out of sippy cups. We have been trying to encourage it every day for several weeks, but she's not a huge fan. So since she likes water out of our cups, that will do for now
