8 months old

New party tricks this month:

• Waving. She sure melts our hearts in the morning when she waves to us from her crib. The first time she waved was when we went on our girls' shopping trip. She likes to wave at Coqui.
  
• Closing and opening the door of her bedroom. We don't really let her do this because she invariably bumps herself on the head. One night I left her in her room while running her bath, and she closed herself in her room. It was funny--Sweet LJ calling through the cracked door, "back up, Mary Lawton."
• Huge, huge smiles so big she can't open her eyes. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true.
  

New foods:

• Broccoli - pureed and pieces as finger food
• Teething biscuits
• Steamed apple pieces
  
• Apples mixed with blueberries (jar)
• Apples mixed with apricots (jar)
• Cheerios
  
• Winter squash (jar. I don't know exactly what "winter squash" is, but it tastes like pumpkin.)
• White (navy) beans
• Black beans
• Brown basmati rice
• Yogurt
  
• She likes nearly everything. Exceptions are the things that are a little tart, like some fruit and yogurt.

New skills:

• Scooting on her belly the entire length of the house, with detours into every room along the way. (Ours is a small house, but still quite an achievement.)

• Finding microscopic bits of stuff on the floor and eating it
• Trying desperately to pull up on her own
  
• Standing while holding on to something (like an ottoman)
  
• Fighting with us. She has screamed and swatted at each of us once. I wish I could say she inherited her dad's temper, but that would be a big, fat lie.
  

New obsession: Hair. She likes to soothe herself by tugging on my hair, and she also likes to chew on my hair. I steer her away from these things, and for a few weeks she has been playing with her own hair (what there is of it) on the back of her head.
We continue to be amazed at what a little person she has become, the new things she can do each day, new expressions, new "words," etc. Every day is an adventure.