August - Eleven Months

What a month it's been for our big 11-month-old boy!  Happy birthday, August!

After months of waiting, August finally cut his first tooth this month on his Aunt Cara's birthday--December 3rd.  Actually, he cut two, both of the front bottom.  He has the cutest little toothy smile either of us has ever seen.  August's new teeth means that he's able to explore new foods, too.  He loves to munch on cucumbers and raisins, the former usually covered in hummus.

August is getting increasingly adept at his unique crawl, but he's also started cruising a lot more.  His Nana came to visit us this month, and he loved showing off for her.  He makes lap after lap around our living room coffee table, and cruises along every wall in the house.  Walking on his own is surely just around the corner.
Edit: Walking isn't just around the corner anymore!  August took his first solo steps today.  He took two wobbly steps in the kitchen.  Way to go, buddy!

We're also excited to see how social August is becoming.  He loves to wave at strangers in the grocery store, at shopping malls, the aisles at Target...pretty much anywhere.  Naturally people love to wave back to him.  It helps that he's the cutest baby ever--no bias of course.  He's also getting much braver with other new experiences, like playing on the swings.

We've spent the last month getting August ready for his first Christmas, though it obviously means more to us this year than it does to him.  Still, I think he senses the excitement and spirit of the Christmas season.

August - Ten Months

Our sweet little boy turns ten months today!  

 

He's becoming such a busy little guy, pulling himself on everything and scooting all over the place. The picture above is the only blur-free one we could get.  The rest look something like this:

This one is my favorite.  He had just crawled across the floor, and he's lunging at me with a huge smile on his face.

August crawls all over the house, but he crawls very strangely.  He tucks his right leg under him and propels himself with his left leg.  He looks a bit odd, but the trade-off is that he's super speedy.  Who needs to walk when you crawl faster than anyone else in the house can move?

This month we've also seen more signs of how verbal August will likely be someday.  He clearly says "Mommy" and "Daddy," and says "Baba" when he looks at Barley.  And even though we've always known what a sweet boy our little Auggie is, he's started showing affection.  He crawls up to us to cuddle, and he gives the best--albeit also the sloppiest--kisses.  He especially loves to kiss his favorite stuffed animals.

We are so proud of our giggly, laughing, extremely happy baby boy.  He makes us happier than he can know.

August - Nine Months

Happy birthday, August!  You're 3/4 of a year old already.

Last month we were a bit apprehensive of the crawling stage, and now we're in the throws of it.  Though he still just belly-crawls across the floor, he's becoming quite speedy!  We're also in the throws of teething, still waiting for the first tooth to cut through.  The belly-crawling coupled with the drooling means that Daddy calls August his little silkworm.

Now that August can move on his own, poor Barley is becoming increasingly nervous.  He runs away whenever he sees August coming and looks at us with his sad puppy eyes.  "It's moving now?  Why?"  Unless, of course, August is eating.  Then they're best friends.  August has started eating meat--chicken, even lamb--so Barley is beginning to warm up to him.

August's new favorite discovery is watching objects drop--from the bathtub, his bed, through railings--the higher the better.  Let's just hope he doesn't decide to let himself drop.  He's also fascinated with power cords.  Daddy has dreams of him being an electrician like Grandpa.

Every month we think we couldn't possibly love our little dude more.  I love that we keep proving ourselves wrong.

August - Eight Months

Happy birthday, August!  You turn eight months today.

This month, August officially mastered sitting up on his own.  We used to barricade him with pillows and blankets to keep him from falling over and hitting his head, but now he just plays with the pillows and gets tangled in the blankets.

August has becoming increasingly vocal this month, too.  He's picking up a lot of consonants, but is still a big fan of "da da."  We'll get the hang of "ma ma" someday.

 He's continuing to discover and love a wide variety of foods, too.  He's still not very carnivorous, which disappoints Daddy, but he's a huge fan of his fruits and vegis.

August is also becoming an increasingly busy little boy.  The photo above is the only one where he's sitting still.  We love to see how curious he is, but we're a bit nervous for the crawling phase.

August - Seven Months

Happy 7-month birthday, August!

August grew by leaps and bounds this month.  At last check he was over sixteen pounds, up nearly ten pounds from his birth weight.  He also now sits up completely on his own and will try to scoot when he's on his belly.  Matt is encouraging the crawling; I'm enjoying these remaining days of a sedentary baby.

Even though he isn't crawling, August is still into everything already.  The picture above is the only one we got on the chair before he started squirming and grabbing at Arjun the Monkey:

So we moved to the safer floor...

But that was short-lived, too.

We love watching how curious and inquisitive August is becoming.  He's fascinated with the world around him, especially his toys, his books (which usually go in his mouth) and his dog (in whose mouth his fingers usually go).

Last month I posted about the teething without teeth.  We're still waiting for that illusive first tooth and are still dealing with the drooling, though the crankiness is improving.  Maybe we're just getting used to it.  Our saving grace has been his amber teething necklace.  Even though it causes strangers to ooh and aah over our "beautiful little girl" when he's wearing gender-neutral clothing, it's been well worth it.

We've also enjoyed some early conversations with August, even though his contribution is still mostly "dadadada" and "babababa."  Whatever he's saying, it's already fascinating.

August - Six Months

Happy six-month birthday, August!

Our little man is now closer to his birthday than to his birth day.

This was a huge month for August!  He started eating solid foods, and we haven't found one yet that he doesn't like.  His favorites are carrots, beets from our garden and bananas, but he also likes sweet potatoes, yogurt, kale, Swiss chard, avocados, pears...the list goes on.  We're so proud of our good eater.

August has also conquered rolling over this month.  He first rolled over from his back to his tummy the day we got home from Minnesota.  Now goes easily from back to belly and to his back again.  This is usually a good thing, until he finds himself on his belly in his bed and doesn't know what to do with himself.

This month, August has also started to sit up on his own and is so close to sitting strongly all the time.  We know it's a short trip from sitting strongly to crawling.  Matt still thinks that will be nothing but cute.

August has also been teething more than ever this month.  We think he still has a while to go before the first tooth cuts, though, so until then we're muddling through the loads of drool, bouts of crankiness and sleepless nights.  It's a good thing he's so darned cute.

August - Five Months

Happy five-month birthday, August!

We're celebrating this birthday at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Minnesota.  We've also spent time with Nana and Poppop, and loads of cousins, aunts, uncles and other family, plus some of our close friends.

August took his first cross-country road trip this month--an 18-hour trip from Maryland to Minnesota.  He was such a little trooper in the car, only fussing when we were about 15 minutes from our final destination.

This month, we're noticing August using his hands more than ever before.  He's grabbing at toys purposefully, and he's starting to use his fingers.  While we're happy at this developmental milestone, our glasses and hair have seen better days.

August - Four Months

Happy four-month birthday, August!

This month, August rolled over from his belly to the back for the first time and started mimicking our noises.  His very favorite is to make raspberry zerbets.

August has also started to notice his new friend, Barley, and loves to read lots and lots of books.  Our whole family is getting hooked on Augs's favorite music, especially "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "You Are My Sunshine."  Not surprisingly, he's already showing a great sense of rhythm.

Happy 1/3-of-a-year birthday, little dude!

August - Three Months

Happy three month birthday, August!  Finally, Daddy can start counting your age in months instead of weeks.

This month was filled with all sorts of wonderful milestones.  Auggie has started laughing all the time, sometimes out of the blue, but usually with a bit of cajoling:

Though it takes very little convincing to get him to chat with his best friends, our ceiling fans:

He's also discovered his hands and has learned how to use them to play with some of his favorite toys.  He's showing signs of early teething, too, so the toys usually go straight to the mouth.

We're most excited to see August's unique personality start to show.  He lights up a room with his hilarious facial expressions and fiery temperament.  He loves to help Daddy in the garden or play with [read: scream at] Barley, but he's just as happy cuddling with Mommy to read a good book.  This line from one of our favorite bedtime books sums up this month's birthday greetings to our little Augman:

"How do I love you? Let me count the ways.

I love you as the sun loves the bright blue days."

August - Two Months

August is two months old today!  Happy birthday, little Aug man!

This month, Auggie showed us his amazing smile for the first time (the traces of which can be seen in this month's birthday photo above) and also started to giggle.  Unfortunately, his happiest time is around 4:00 in the morning.  We learned quickly that getting up to enjoy it is a really, really (really!) bad idea in the long-run.

August also finally fits into his newborn cloth diapers, which are still pretty bulky on him (also evident in this month's birthday photo).  He's still in the 10th percentile for weight, though, so most of his newborn pants still fall down.  His mommy remains envious of this "problem."

As August adjusts his sleeping patterns to be awake more and more during the day and asleep longer and longer each night, the rest of us (with the exception of Barley, who remains aloof) are getting used to functioning in the new normal our little cuddler has carved out for us.

August - 1 Month

Happy one-month birthday, August!

We celebrated August's first big birthday with our first trip to a restaurant.  Matt and I quickly learned simultaneously (A) how much fun it is to have our newborn in public and (B) how miserable it is to have our newborn in public.  Fortunately, we also discovered how quickly we can eat and that we are surprisingly comfortable changing a diaper and nursing while hidden in a back booth, so this won't be our last dining-out experience.

Yesterday was also August's one-month well-baby visit.  He's in the 10th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height.  As someone with the exact opposite statistics, I can't say that I wasn't envious.

In the last month, August has started noticing voices around him and follows our faces when we move.  Matt and I have both claimed to see that illusive smile, but we've resigned ourselves to the fact that gas is still more pleasing than to our son than his parents.  If he's like much of his extended family (and most teenagers I've known), this will likely always be the case.