Eight Months Old
Marcus is eight months old--or he will be, at the end of this long weekend. He weighs about eighteen pounds and is wearing size 3 diapers and size 6-12 months clothes. It's been a month of firsts here, all in all. At right you see banana-eating baby, and below left, backpack baby with Daddy on Mass Ave near Symphony.
On April 1st he pulled himself up for the first time--not even two days after we'd lowered his crib all the way!
On April 7th he started making his first clearly defined consonant sounds--/b/! He isn't quite doing reduplicated babbling yet, but he's happily saying "/b/! /b/! /m/, /b/!" to anyone who will listen.
On April 10th he started crawling really quickly, on the 12th he started taking steps while holding onto things on his own (cruising), and on the 17th he started making raspberries (an offshoot of his /b/ sound) very happily. For the past few weeks, then, standing, crawling, and climbing--over us or pillows or toys in the way--have been his greatest joys. Why sit, when you can stand? He's been quite wriggly during diaper changes, because, after all, that's being forced to be immobile--torture!
This has also been Marcus's 
first time at a playground specifically meant for little kids, and his first time on big swings (worn in the wrap, with me pumping high) and little swings alike. He loved his time on the baby swings, especially. We've gone to the Esplanade playground between Mass Ave and Fairfield twice now, and both times it's been gorgeous spring-like weather and baby and I have had a blast.
And it was his first Easter, of course--at right you see him in his little Easter suit, with one of the fleece blocks Grandma Connie made him.
On the 16th he had his first Cheerio--that most ubiquitous of baby foods--which I was slightly apprehensive about. I did figure, though, that so many other parents wouldn't give them to their kids if they were the choking hazard they appeared to me to be, so after testing one in my mouth (it dissolved pretty easily), I put one on the palm of my hand and offered it to him. Marcus positively slurped it up with his mouth, like a little vacuum, then chewed and chewed and chewed (with his gums--still no teeth here), and then opened his mouth wide to show me the Cheerio safely all gone. It's been quite the month!
At left you see him with Great-Grandma Helena at lunch in a restaurant--she is still enchanted with him (no "firsts" there--just a continuation)!
At left, you see Marcus in our new sling (clearance! discount!)--it certainly doesn't replace the wrap for jaunts out, but it's great for a clingy baby around the house.
And here's Marcus standing and cruising around the living room--you can see that he takes steps by himself in between the couch and the ottoman, for example, and easily transitions down to sitting or a crawl to reach something on the floor.
Next, here is baseball baby--first in a Mets shirt (complete with orange pants) and then in Red Sox gear. And yes, Robert is taking after Grandma Gracie, by managing to cut off our heads in that last picture.
Finally, we have two videos for you--Marcus in his first swing (April 9th), with some other mothers discussing teeth in the background, and then Marcus pulling himself up and cruising across the couch on April 15th. Even in the three days since this video, he's gotten so much better at pulling himself up and at walking--they're no longer the huge expenditures of effort that they were even a few days ago. Enjoy our eight-month-old baby!