8 Months

Luke is 8 months old as of Feb. 28th. I love watching this little boy learn new things each and every day. It feels a tad ridiculous to be doing a whole separate post every single month. I'm pretty sure most people do them every three months, but he just changes so much every day that I have a million new things to put on a list at the end of each month so here it is ...

• He absolutely loves stuffed animals. The moment one is within his reach, he grabs it tight, smiles big, laughs, and buries his face in it.

• He has recently become obsessed with standing up. He tries to pull himself up on everything within reach. Once he is standing, he can stay that way for several minutes at a time while he plays with anything he can get his hands on.

• He has become a total pro when it comes to crawling. Sometimes as he is cruising along in the direction of something he wants to play with, he lets out excited little screams and laughs to himself. He is just so pleased with his new ability to get around.
• Sometimes when he is put on the ground when he doesn't want to be, he just crawls away crying and feeling sorry for himself. He won't look back when we call his name. He just keeps crawling. It's kinda sad, but mostly hilarious.
• If he is sitting in his high chair or lying down, his legs are often straight up in the air, usually accompanied by pointed toes. They really get in the way when we are trying to feed him.

• He gives lots of big, wet, slobbery kisses. He pulls back after each kiss to look at you and wait to hear an enthusiastic, "Oh thank you for the kiss, Luke!" Then he usually grins really big and goes in for another one.
• He loves being outside.
• We often catch him daydreaming and staring off into space. He gets that from his mom.
• He gets so excited when he gets to play Nintendo with Daddy.

• He thinks he is so funny and loves when people laugh at his antics.
• He is fascinated by tongues and is constantly trying to stick his fingers in my mouth to grab mine. He will settle for getting a finger up my nose though.

• Music makes him happy and he loves to dance.
• He knows how to hold his bottle and put food in his mouth, but he would much rather have someone else do it for him so he rarely does it himself. However, he did feed himself a graham cracker for the very first time a few days ago. Mommy was very excited.

• He is incredibly strong and determined. If he wants something, he will keep fighting to get to it even if he is held back and I'm not kidding when I say holding him back takes some real effort. He has an unbelievable grip so once he gets his little paws on something, prying it out is no easy task.
• He likes to hold things that he can wrap his fingers all the way around (e.g. pens and chapstick) and he will not put them down for ridiculously long periods of time. He crawls with them in his hand, he doesn't drop them when he is picked up, and if we go for a ride in the car, it will most likely still be in his hand when we reach our destination.
• He loves to play daredevil-ish games with his daddy. One involves Jeff leaning forward while holding Luke in front of him. Luke holds onto Jeff's shirt for a minute and then flings himself backwards and Jeff catches him at the last moment.

• He likes to push doors closed, but gets frustrated when he can't open them again (because he is blocking them).
• He is super ticklish under his chin and on his neck.
• He won't sit down if he can help it. Every time anyone tries to sit him on the floor, he does everything he can to keep his feet under him. He arches his back and refuses to bend his knees. This kid just can't wait to walk.

And I leave you with the cutest little baby bum you've ever seen ...

Luke was so excited to see another baby in the mirror after his bath that he kept bouncing up and down, getting up on his tip toes and clenching his little butt cheeks.

Giving himself kisses