(former) Americans in Geneva: Katherine is 8 months old!

As usual I am behind posting this and to be honest it is becoming harder and harder to keep things straight as to when she did what because she is changing and developing so fast, but I will do my best.... So here goes.

On October 19th our little girl turned 8 months old.

Stats:
We happened to have a doctor appt and she weighed in at 20lbs 8oz. She is a big health baby!
Not sure about her height but I would venture to say that she grew lenghtwise too as she now fills her 9 month PJs.

Eating:
We're still on the same 4 hour schedule as last month and she is doing great with it. She will eat at 7:30, 11:30, 3:30 and then 7 and off to bed.

She gets solids first and then milk at the 2nd and 3rd feeding as per her doc's orders. For lunch she has yogurt with fruit and cereal mixed in and for dinner veggies with meat and some cereal or sweet potato. I still try to offer her cereal after the morning bottle but she does not always want it.

She likes her solids a lot and is a pro at eating everuthing. But she still does not like parsnips and peas. I tried giving her storebought peas to see what would happen if she got those with a nice smooth texture but she was still gagging a little so I guess it's just because she does not like peas in general. But we will keep on offering those and maybe she will get used to them.

She loves puffs and likes to put those in her mouth herself.

I am both too scared and too lazy to try giving her finger foods. Scared because I don't want her to choke or throw up (we had one pukey accident when I tried feeding her cottage cheese by spoon... I guess that means she's not ready). Lazy because it would mean sitting with her for a loooong time and then cleaning up the tray, her face and clothes (yes she would be really messy... I tried it once with cut up bananas which she just smeared on her face) and she probably wouldn't eat that much anyway.... So I am waiting some more.

But if I feed her little bits directly into her mouth - like pieces of bread, cheese, macaroni - she does really well with that. We have found out that it is a good distraction for her when we go out to eat.

I have also given her water out of a sippy and out of a straw directly in the mouth. She is getting used to it (she used to hate it when she was smaller) and she knows how to suck on the sippy spout but has not mastered the tipping up to get the water yet.

Oh this is really cute too... She can now totally hold her own bottle and when I come in to get her in the morning I give her her milk and she feeds herself and looks at me as I pick out her clothes for the day etc. Too cute.

Sleeping:
My wonderful all night sleeper is back! Yeah!! All the troubles from last month must have just been a growth spurt. She sleeps nicely from 7 till 7-7:30 the next morning. And now she consistently takes only 2 naps. One at 10am and one at 2-2:30. I am loving this predictable nap times! I can plan my day around them really well. On a typical day she will sleep for an hour. On a bad day about half hour, but then she will usually make up for that by taking a longer second nap. I thought that all babies slept 2 hour stretches for naps but apparently this is quite normal. So says her doctor. And when you think about it - she sleeps 12-13 hours at night and then 2 hours during the day. That's 14-15 hours per day which seems perfectly normal and sufficient.

Milestones and Randoms:
She is a championship roller still!! She rolls SO FAST and everywhere she wants. She is REALLY precise in where she rolls herself. She will follow me out of her bedroom into the master bedroom or bathroom. She easly gets over to all her toys and now she even started getting into outlets (which I had to baby proof), heating vents, the fireplace (!!!), and she absolutely LOVES all hanging cords and cables. She is going to be one of those babies who pull lamps down off of side tables... She is sooo curious about everything.

She is a super wiggler too. It is nearly impossible to change her diaper now. She especially loves all kinds of acrobatics on the changing table. I have a stack of random things right nearby for the sole purpose of distracting her while I change her.

She is saying "waaa waa waaa" and "raaa raaa raaa" and an occasional "baa baa" or "bla bla" (yes distinctly BLA) but no 'mama' or 'dada' yet.

And drum roll please...... She has 4 teeth!! Just before she turned 8 months old the fourth tooth broke through so now she has both the top and bottom center incisors. Boy was she whiney when those top teeth were coming... Ughhh.... But luckily no fever or diaper rash or anything like that.

I found some cute videos with nursery rhymes on YouTube (by hoopla kidz if anyone is interested in looking those up) and she is totally obsessed with them!! We play 'Rain rain go away', 'Little teapot', 'Pat a cake' and 'Twinkle twinkle little star' on my iPad and she is just mesmerized by them. They are really cute and she gets soooo excited when I start playing them. When one song comes to an end she starts whining and kind of fake crying and wants more... Too cute.

Oh, we've been going to the local playgeound for about a month now and she is loving the baby swings! She is not scared at all. But what I think she likes most about going there is seeing other kids and babies! She will stare at them and smile and babble to them like crazy!! She is such a sociable little girl! I defintely need to arrange more play dates for her with other babies. She loves them.

She is also really interested in animals. We often sit on the front step looking at people going by and whenever they have a dog on a leash she will follow it with her eyes until it disappears from view. We have some play dates with doggies planned too so she can learn to interact with them.

Oh and as you will see in the photos, she finally has a little bit of hair sprouting but it is super fine and it's sticking straight up... Looks super silly. We are very jealous of all those babies out there with thick manes... Can't wait for her hair to fill in.

I guess that's it for this month. Here are some pictures so enjoy!