Thomas - 8 Months

We missed growth pictures for months 6 and 7. Hopefully Thomas won't grow up to resent us for missing such important milestones in his life. 

A lot has happened in the past few months. Thomas learned to crawl a couple weeks before he turned 6 months. Then at about 61/2 months he learned to pull himself up on furniture. He now easily walks around furniture, transfers between furniture, and goes crazy with his walker. He can also stand for a couple seconds unassisted. 

After falling and bashing his head many many times a day after first learning to pull himself up, Thomas has mastered the art of careful ascent and descent. My favorite thing to watch is when he is already standing but wants to get a toy off the ground. He spreads his legs to give himself more stability and carefully reaches down with one hand and wiggles his fingers around until he finds what he is looking for. So cute. I really should have a picture but I don't. You'll just have to take my word that it is freakin' adorable.

Thomas got his first tooth around 7 months. It was slow going after that up until about 2 days ago when his top two front teeth started poking through. He's taking it like a champ.

If there is one word Thomas understands, it's FOOD. That boy LOVES to eat. At around 6 months he cut back significantly on breastfeeding and wanted it replaced with solids. We had no choice in the matter. An average lunch for him is a banana, apple sauce or mashed carrots, half a sandwich, grapes, and cheese or yogurt. In the morning he eats more oatmeal than we do. It's ridiculous. At first it was cute, but after several months of increasing grocery costs it's lost it's charm. I have a feeling it's only going to get worse.

He now sleeps 11 hours at night. Enough said.

We've been to the beach a couple times now. Thomas loves eating the rocks and playing in the sand. He does not love the cold water.

.

Thomas and Allison

Since he has become mobile, he no longer likes to be left along and insists on following my everywhere. Even the shower has no escape. 

Michael and Thomas did their first car repair the other day. Luckily it was just a dead battery so it wasn't too bad. Well, if you don't count the fact that every Costco in San Diego was out of the battery we needed because they were in the middle of switching over. That part was bad.

I've started taking Thomas to storytime at the library. We've been a couple weeks now and Thomas has gone from blank stares to actually interacting with other babies. I'm so glad he has someone else other than me to spend some time with. In fact, it's such a nice break during the day that I've started going to storytime at other libraries as well. My favorite is the baby signing storytime in PQ.

One day Thomas and I were at a Michael's store and a lady came up and commented on how cute my little girl was and that she thought the leaves were a skirt. I'm surprised at how many people think Thomas is a girl despite the polo's, khaki's, and mostly blue clothing. I can't judge though since I'll admit with some babies it is hard to tell and I've probably made the same mistake before.

After Priesthood session of conference we went out for some delicious dinner and dessert with grandma and grandpa McPhie.

We are so blessed to have them close by.

Last week I was working on sifting through all the dirt in the lower part of our backyard to remove all of the glass, screws, and other random debris left there by the previous owners. This meant that Thomas was free to roam around in the dirt. He didn't hold back.

I'm so grateful for a sink that has the hose attachment. I place Thomas in the sink and spray him down at least 3-4 times a day. 

So useful!

And finally, the other day I looked down and found Thomas and Lily side by side staring through the cat door. I wouldn't be surprised if they were plotting some elaborate scheme together.

 Then again, most of the time Thomas chases Lily around the house giggling to himself, so it would probably take a lot for them to work together. Or maybe it's just a true love-hate sibling relationship.