Golden Gate Fam: Orelia at Eight Months

Our favorite little dictator is now eight months old.

Weight - unknown, but heavy enough that I grunt and groan if I ever have to carry her in her car seat. Height - unknown, but wearing clothes as small as 6-12 months and as big as 18 months.

I can't remember when it happened, but I now put Orelia in a seated position and leave the room (albeit briefly), because I trust her not to fall over...unless it's intentional. She usually takes herself out of the seated position once a toy gets out of reach in front of her, and then she gets to her belly without a problem. She loves to sit and play with her toys.

She's still a big roller - getting where she wants to go by rolling instead of crawling. She can move forward a tiny bit on the hardwood by pulling herself. She frequently scoots backward on the hardwood when she flexes her arms.

While on her tummy she can do a complete 360 intentionally. If Harper walks by, for instance, she will follow her movement by using her hands to turn her body so she can find Harper again.

Right now we know she knows two words - Orelia and Harper. She looks at you when you call her name and she looks for Harper when you call Harper's name.

Her sleeping is much the same - 11 hours at night (bedtime around 7:30 PM) and three 45 minutes to one hour naps during the day.

She is very talkative these days - not just making noise (screaming), but saying lots of consonants. She now will use two consonants in the same "word" - BaMaMaBa, for instance. Her favorite consonant is M, so she says "Mama" quite a bit.

We have started signing to Orelia more frequently and she watches us pretty intently when we do it.

She still nurses 5 times a day (roughly ever 3 hours), though she is feeding for less time (and, therefore, taking in less milk).

She eats purees twice a day (if I have my act together), and handheld food two to three times per day (mostly at adult meal times).

We have officially stopped tracking what foods Orelia has tried and waiting 3 days between each new food. She eats table food now, and some of it is quite spicy. She's had things fried in peanut oil and she eats strawberries eagerly - so we're feeling happy about that. Probably the only high-allergen food she hasn't had yet is egg whites.

I usually mix a fruit puree with plain unsweetened yogurt for her "breakfast" (after a nursing) and she loves it. She eats a pound of yogurt in about two weeks.

We are really proud at what a great eater she has become - both with us feeding her and her feeding herself.

She doesn't seem to "get" sippy cups, yet has mastered drinking out of a straw. She drinks from her straw sippy cup every day and loves water (just like me!).

I take Orelia out for a stroller ride two to three times a day - usually about 20 minutes each walk. She plays with her toys or just relaxes while I get a teeny bit of exercise.

We still use the Baby Bjorn carrier a lot, and it's a great way to keep her happy while walking around the farmers market or going for a stroll.

She rides in grocery carts now and sits in high chairs at restaurants. For some reason, when she's out in the open like this she gets LOTS of attention. People come up to greet her or compliment her. Most of the time they are greeted with a big smile, but occasionally there will be a few tears from someone she doesn't like.

We imitate her crazy noises all the time. A month or two ago she didn't seem to notice, but now her reaction is to stop doing what she's doing and look at us like "Hey! You're mocking me!"

She "dances" around by wiggling pretty often and absolutely loves it if John and I do it back to her. Call and response dancing and head shaking is hilarious in our house.

She gets a bedtime bath every night from Daddy, which she likes a lot. She splashes around quite a bit now and plays with her toys.

She has several adult friends whom she lights up for every time they are near (namely, Natalie and Joyce), and lots of baby friends too. She loves being around well-dressed Gemma and talkative Ethan.

Just last week we started a weekly Music Together class with some of our mom and baby friends. She loved the singing, dancing, and instruments, and I'm eager to see how excited I expect her to get as she gets more and more used to the class. We play the class music on CD for her every day. John and I constantly have the songs stuck in our heads, so I bet Orelia does too.

She loves playing with toys that make noise - mere rattles or her maraca or shaker egg. They toys end up in her mouth too, but she likes making music with them even more.