Ewan is 8 months old

This has been a month of growing independence and movement. Ewan is army/commando crawling everywhere, and he is fast! He is loving exploring all kinds of uncharted territory, crawling into and out of each room in the house and often making a b-line for all the things he shouldn't be getting into, like cell phone chargers and other cords, the pets, plants, etc. How do they know and want exactly what they can't have? Meanwhile, we've been overwhelmed by the prospect of baby proofing, and, while we've done a few little things, we have mostly just chosen to keep a close eye on him.

Also in a display of his desired independence, several weeks ago Ewan began protesting being fed mushy cereals and purees and just wanted to get his hands on the spoon and feed himself. We took this as a sign that he may be ready for some finger foods, and started giving him small pieces of easy-to-mash-with-no-teeth foods like banana and avocado. Lo and behold, we discovered that the boy will eat anything if he can feed it to himself. Foods that he had never liked or stopped liking in puree form, he will gobble right up if given to him in chunks. His favorite snack is "puffs," which are sort of like cheerios, but they dissolve more easily in babies' mouths, and they come in yummy flavors like banana, pear, and green veggies. It's fun to watch the various methods Ewan has developed in his attempts to get these foods into his mouth. We were impressed when we started giving him the puffs at around 7 months, that he was already starting to use the pincer grasp, but he since seems to have discovered that he's better at getting food in his mouth by using the raking technique or palmar grasp, then getting the food out from his fist by either squeezing it if it's soft, or pushing it up with his thumb in the case of puffs. The latter is especially cute; he looks like he's trying to flip a coin or something.

Other fun little things this month include some new gestures, such as lifting his arms up if he wants to be picked up, or holding them out and twisting his wrists if he wants to move from a sitting position and doesn't quite know what to do. (He's still working on going from sitting to him tummy, and is not always feeling bold enough to make the attempt.) He's also taken a greater interest in books, especially those with pictures of people's faces, and he even helps us turn the pages. He's also gone from trying to kiss himself in the mirror and bonking his head every time (a cruel lesson in narcissism?), to being able to enjoy a good makeout session with the baby in the mirror. With the recent turn in weather, he's been enjoying the baby swing at the park and bike rides in the chariot bike trailer. Finally, he's added some new consonants to his babbling repetoire, such as "n," "w," "v," and "f." And dare we say we think he may have finally started the teething process?

Here are some photos from the month. Happy 8 months to our little man!