8 Months

Josie is 8 months today. She loves to chew on sticks and leaves, but doesn't seem to eat them. She eats everything else though. She will eat anything (vegan, of course) from lemons to leafy greens, edamame to eggplant, pumpkin seeds to pasta, berries to broccoli, onions to olives, tofu to tomatoes, quince to quinoa, etc. She eats everything we do (even nuts, I know all of you with allergies are cringing). I just have to mash things up a little for her or cut it up smaller, but she wants exactly what we are having (especially the boys...they are sweet and give her a taste of everything they eat). No teeth yet, but it doesn't slow her down on the eating. She also likes to chew on everything else like lens caps (I wondered where that went!) and anything else she can get her hands on. It makes life challenging since she is so much more "mouthy" than her brothers were and I have to keep a close eye on what she grabs.

She seems happier and happier all the time. She laughs at so many things now. She loves to be outside and Parker and Dema love to swing her at the park. We are usually at the park when Rob gets home from work and she lights up when she sees him riding his bike toward us. She organized her first yard sale this weekend (actually my friend Jenny did all the organizing, thank goodness!) and had fun socializing with all the shoppers. If she isn't feeling like herself, I usually take her outside and all is well.

The ECing is going well and she is in a little routine of pooping on the potty every morning. I still go through plenty of diapers during the day while we are out and not close to a bathroom, but that is fine. She has finally stopped peeing at night. The boys stopped peeing at night around six months and I was worried she wasn't going to stop, but she is dry most mornings now so we'll be taking off the night diaper soon.

People always comment how much Josie and Dema look alike, but Josie looks more like Parker's baby pictures than Dema's, but they do have a lot of the same looks now. I think she looks a lot like Rob too.

She loves to be where the action is and climbs all over the boys and laughs and laughs. Dema loves to be "in charge" of her when Parker isn't around and I need to get some of his interactions with her on camera. He tells me I can go cook or clean while he takes care of Josie. He will sit in the middle of the floor with her and give her toy after toy or book after book and explain what everything is in a high pitched quiet tone. He puts his arm around her and rubs her head and calls her "Josie Jo". It is so much fun to see, but I have to be sneaky since he really wants to be alone with her. Parker loves to take care of all the babies in the neighborhood and will take our neighbor's one year old for walks in the stroller every chance he gets. I love how the boys are so interested in care giving.

Josie has been crawling in this funny way for a while. She still doesn't do it on all fours, but will drag herself around with one arm which makes her go diagonal. She is pretty quick when she wants to get somewhere, but she will also use her older brothers to get what she wants. She'll fuss a little and reach for something and they are there to hand it to her. I am the youngest of three and totally understand where she is coming from. We have hardwood floors throughout the house so transitioning from sitting to crawling can be a head bonking experience so she does it very slowly and deliberately. She will also pull up on things and stand forever holding on to a couch or someone's hands.

I was able to leave Josie with the guys for a couple hours the other night and see the special live This American Life show with my friend Stephanie. She was just getting a little fussy (Josie, not Stephanie) when I arrived home, but Rob kept her happy walking downtown and eating hummus for two hours which is impressive.

She loves to "talk" and babbles quite a bit. For a month or so maybe two she's been saying "mama", but Rob and I believe that is why "mama" (which in many languages is a similar variation) came to mean "mom" because all babies make a sound that sounds like "mama" when they are babbling. We are not linguists, but that is our theory that humans created the word "mama" from listening to babies babble and not that babies actually say "mama" that early. Either way it is super cute.

Speaking of really cute, right now Dema is pulling Parker's famous orange hat over his face and making Josie laugh so hard I think she might stop breathing. I wish I could bottle this stuff.