8 months old

Okay...so maybe this was a day ago. I'm a busy lady these days! Onto the letter.

Dearest Colin J,

You are now 8 months old. 2/3 of a year.
This has been a very busy month for you. You went from rolling to army crawling to crawling in about a week's time, and now you're also pulling yourself up like a pro,
and just in the last few days, you've started to cruise a few steps (walk along furniture). We're leaving the DVDs out and going on wishful thinking that moving you away from them and saying "no" will teach you to leave them alone. You'd rather spend time on the floor than in your exersaucer now. Since you like to pull yourself up on it, we almost assembled the 3rd stage of it today. Before Daddy started reading the directions, I put you in the seat to see what you'd do, and you still jumped like a wild man in it, so we'll leave it alone for now.

You are LOVING puffs and yogurt melts. You can pick them up and put them in your mouth very well, and as soon as another is on your high chair tray, you grab for it and stuff it in. We've moved up to 3rd foods now. You like the fruits a lot, but you're not so keen on the veggies or the "dinners." If you don't like the food, you push the spoon away. Since you love the idea of finger foods, we're going to try out some more of those. I've given you little bits of bread, which you like, but you didn't like the sweet potato fries or the little piece of cooked carrot I gave you last night. We'll keep trying.

Christmas is coming up. Today we went to the mall to see Santa. He's a very nice man, but you weren't too fond of him. You had your squirmy pants on and just wouldn't settle in to Santa's comfy lap.
That's okay though. You already did better than Mommy, because I didn't get my picture taken with Santa until I was in my early 20s. I took your and Rocket's picture by our Christmas tree today. Rocket sat very patiently, but you got bored very quickly and crawled away.
So I gave you a piece of paper to play with so you'd sit still.
Speaking of Rocket, he's becoming a little more tolerant of you. He even lets you pet him every now and then, as long as you don't pull his hair.
You have fallen out of your nice, stable bedtime routine. It happened when we went to Grandma and Grandpa J's over Thanksgiving. Then you got that nasty stuffy nose which kept you up. We're starting to get back on track now, but we've had to let you cry a little bit in the middle of the night. It's heart wrenching for us, but slowly you're sleeping longer stretches. Daycare reports that you are taking both of your naps in your crib now, and we put you in your crib for nap times at home without much of a fuss now too.

You weigh about 20 lbs now, so I had to wash your 12 month clothes today. I've started putting the 9 month clothes that you're busting out of away. Every 3 months, your clothes get bigger and bigger. I know it's exciting to get a new wardrobe four times a year, but I hate putting your "little" clothes away!

You LOVE to play with and chew on strings from sweatshirts, and even the string on Mommy's pajama pants (that's what that blue string is from that you're holding).
Santa's coming soon, little man. Remember to stay on his nice list and sleep a little more at night time, okay? He can't come if you're not sleeping!

Love,
Mommy

***ANNOYING REMINDER: THE BLOG IS GOING PRIVATE IN 2010. IF YOU WANT IN, PLEASE CONTACT ME THROUGH EMAIL, FACEBOOK, THE BLOG, BUMP, ETC. NO CONTACT = NO LOOKIE IN 2010. If you're a regular reader, I do want you to continue reading. I'm not kicking you out of the cool kids club by any means!***