Eight Months

They say you are pregnant forever and then babies are one year old before you know it. I've found this to be the one true thing in motherhood. Well, besides the other truisms: Cleaning is a Sisyphean task; This too shall pass; Exhaustion is a permanent state of being; and you can never ever kiss and hug them enough (this last one will especially be true when they are teenagers and I am dropping them off in front of school).

Anyway, Reni is now 8 months old. When Anika was this old, I remember thinking just that: how OLD she was. Ridiculous as it sounds, I really did (and do) view her as older than she is, and I realize that I feel Reni is more of a baby than he actually is. But he is growing and changing every day, and he knows more than we often give him credit for. I can leave him and explain where I'm going, and he doesn't howl in protest when I leave the room (most times, that is....he does have a bit of separation anxiety which is common at this age). I had to take Anika with  me to pee in the middle of the night, for gosh sake. He knows that I will come back, and he's cool with hanging out by himself and finding something interesting to look at. He is calm, and laid-back, and finds humor in nearly everything. He loves to snuggle when he's in the mood, but mostly he just wants to hang out with Anika. Even though she's taken to sneaking a bite of of his finger when she thinks I'm not looking (and let's face it, sometimes I'm not), he will howl for a bit and then want even more desperately to laugh and squeal and chat with her. He wakes up with a huge smile and happy wiggles, making the 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. or sometimes even 4:30 a.m. wake-up time more bearable with his lovable little self. He is trying to crawl, but can't seem to get his knees together (could be the chunky thighs!) or his tummy off the ground for more than a few seconds. I have a feeling he'll be crawling soon. He yells "mama!" when he needs me and I'm across the room, and when I'm about to pick him up. He is extremely dextrous with his hands, and loves to pick up cheerios and eat them (and fling them about to see where they will fall).

Here he is this morning - gotta love the bed head:

And here he is the other day -- big sister was in the pool with daddy, and it was just about nap time, so I put him outside to get some sunshine (props to Great-Aunt Ginny for the fantastic hat!)