My daughter StarGirl’s is eight months old (actually, she’ll be nine months next week). Her hair is slowly coming in — she’s got a few curls around the back of her head — but we still don’t have a clue if its going to be light brown or red (we’re still hoping for red, since my wife Sue’s a redhead). The heart condition that scared the crap out of us back when she was three months old haven’t resurfaced, and we’re hoping she’ll be off her medication when she turns 1 year old in March. Here are bunch of other thoughts on her 8th month of life:
Mobility at Last! When StarGirl first started crawling, she did so with a sort of “breaststroke style” in which she’d move forward with her arms, and then pull her legs behind her. This was followed by the inchworm approach, in which she’d move both legs simultaneously while pulling herself forward on her arms. In the last two weeks she Now though, she’s using the traditional crawling style and she’s realized that she’s much, much faster. She can clear a room in a few seconds, now, and she loves to race away from me when I call after her (pausing to look over her shoulder before doing so). She reverts to the “breaststroke” while on hardwood floors and linoleum — apparently that’s easier than normal crawling (or at least, more fun)
Pull Ups: StarGirl’s learned how to pull herself up on the coffee table, her saucer, benches, sofas, chairs and (if she can catch them) dogs. In other words, just about everything she can get her hands on.
She’s a Big Kid Now: For a while there, StarGirl was the youngest kid among our friends, but now that position’s been taken by my friend Dave’s daughter, Morgan. Morgan is absolutely tiny compared to StarGirl, which is exactly what our friends must have when they compared the just-born StarGirl to their kids. Its weird to see a six week old baby and then to look at StarGirl — it makes you realize just how much she’s grown in the last eight months.
Cheerios Rule! StarGirl’s first truly solid food (as opposed to the amorphous, gooey substances that count as solid food in baby lingo, like creamed turkey and pulverized sweet potatoes) is Cheerios … and she loves them. She likes them both soggy and dry, and laughs with glee every time she manages to eat one.
Eight Months, Eight Teeth: StarGirl’s got four teeth on top and bottom, and like to use them — she thinks its hilarious to bite her mom. She’s never chomped down on me though — Dad’s must not taste as good.
Baby Messes Don’t Come Close to Dog Messes: Prior to having StarGirl, my friends with kids used to say that nothing a dog did could come close to the kinds of messes that babies can create. I didn’t buy it then, and I don’t buy it now — there has been nothing, nothing that StarGirl has done that comes even close to what a sick Labrador puppy is capable of.
Babies Love PlayStations: StarGirl’s still infatuated with my PlayStation 2 — loves crawling next to the TV, grabbing the cords, and pulling the entire console out onto the living room floor.
Tree? What Tree? Both the geek tree and our Christmas tree are up, for fortunately StarGirl hasn’t taken much notice of them yet. She’s seen them of course, but I think she’s primarily interested in things that allow her to stand on her own, and the trees just don’t look substantial enough. Or at least, that’s the theory. Once she realizes that trees have ornaments, she might change her mind about their play value.
Football Rocks: Ok, I don’t know that StarGirl likes football … but she does enjoy hang out with Daddy on Sundays watching the Eagles steamroll the competition (or the Giants lose pathetically).