Eight Months

Here are Aubrey's eight month stats:

• She is a speedy crawler and can escape pretty easily.  She loves to practice this while having her diaper changed.  I can't tell you how many times I've had to chase a naked-bottomed baby down the hall in the middle of a diaper change.
• She LOVES to hold someone's hands and walk.  She wants to be able to do it on her own so badly, and I think in another month or so, she'll be ready.  Her balance is getting much better, and I think that is the only thing standing in her way at this point.
• She is a skilled self-feeder.  It has been really fun watching her figure out how to get food in her mouth, and she is really good at it these days. 
• Speaking of food...she originally showed some allergies to bananas and peas, but that seems to be gone.  She loves to eat big girl food, and seems like she would give up the bottle in a heartbeat if she didn't need formula anymore.  She has had her first cracker and her first bite of chicken.  Her favorite foods seem to be any fruit, sweet potatoes, yogurt, and guacamole.
• She has no teeth, but she is working hard at getting some.  Her gums seem to bother her a lot, but we've been saying that for months now.  Mom says I started walking and cutting teeth at nine months, so maybe she is following in my footsteps.  Who knows?
• She has found that she has individual fingers on her hands, and she is always pointing and throwing up gang signs, all the while watching her hands intently.
• She throws a big fit when you sit her down when she would rather you keep holding her.  If you say, "No, ma'am!", she usually gives it up and finds something to entertain herself.
• She is starting to figure out what "no" means.  Somedays she gets it better than others.  I think she probably gets it, and just doesn't want me to know it :)
• Her eyes are still bright blue, and she has lots of hair.  She can even wear small bows without a headband!  She always looks super cute.
• And the biggest change right now is that she is in a big "I want my moma" phase.  She doesn't have stranger anxiety or much separation anxiety, but she usually prefers that I hold her over anyone else.  And she has even said "Ma Ma" when she was trying to get my attention.  Dustin and I both thought it was intentional.

So I guess that's the big stuff.  The one constant is that that baby girl is more loved every day than she was the day before.  She has me absolutely spellbound.