Happy 8 Month Birthday Huxley!!

As always, it's hard to believe we are this far along in Huxley's development and the year in general.  Soon it will be fall and in four short months it'll be Christmas and Huxley's birthday.  We're already giving Huxley practice with unwrapping gifts by letting him play with the newspaper.  He saw me looking through the ads and didn't want to be left out.  Really, if you have anything in your hand - he wants it.

Aside from tearing into the newspaper, here's w

hat else the little guy has been up to this month.....

Scooting/Creeping/Crawling:  He nearly hit a major milestone this month - he got up on all fours. He started out doing these full body push ups and then dropping his knees to the floor.  I think he's discovered how hard push ups can be and is just working on getting up on the knees.  When he's on his belly he'll scoot backwards for a good five feet or until he runs into something.

Rolling Over:  In month seven he was rolling all over the floor.  Ever since he started scooting backwards, he's forgotten that he can roll onto his back.  He's determined to move forward, but just isn't sure how.

Looking for dropped objects:  It's his new favorite game!  He likes to drop everything when he's in his jumper or high chair and then lean over to see where it went.  Then, I pick it up and we start all over again.

Events:  This month was a busy month for us.  Huxley attended the mom's class at Clarian with me, started a new class a Gymboree, went to a couple of playdates, visited the Zoo for the first time, went to Aunt Heather's baby shower, and attended neighborhood parties.  Next month he can look forward to trips to the Zoo, Children's Museum, and more Gymboree classes.

Favorite Toys:  Bean bag 

chairs, tails book from the Zoo, the TV remote, the laundry basket, and my cell phone.

Vocalizations:  Sometimes he just won't shut up!   Of course, that's great.  It's helping him to eventually learn to turn those myriad of sounds into actual words.  He has a variety of sounds and sometimes he says, ba, da, ga, and ma but only once or twice.  He likes to make a rasberry sound by sticking his tongue out and spitting.  Then the drool flies everywhere.   

Food he's tried: Too many to name at this point.  He had Cherrios for the first time this month.  At first he wasn't too sure about them and he's still not very sure about them.  He's devoloped the pincer grasp so he can pick up Cherriors with his thumb and index finger and get them in his mouth.  He misses a lot and the dogs wait underneath the high chair to catch any food he might throw their way.   Next month we'll be expanding his diet to real people food - actual bananas instead of baby jar bananas, toast, crackers, etc.

Bald Spot:  The bald spot in the back of his head is finally gone.  Sleeping on his belly has allowed the hair to grow back.

Sippy Cup:  Huxley mastered the sippy cup this month.  I started him on one at five months, and he never really got water out of it, because he would just bite the cup.  This month he was able to suck water from the cup, and he even drank from a sippy cup with a straw.  He's still messy with it, so I probably won't transition him from the bottle to the cup for a couple of months.  

 

Gymboree Days

Gymboree has many programs for children 0-5 years: music, baby sign language, and play and learn.  We got Huxley enrolled in a play and learn class, and it's been really fun.  They do nursery rhymes with the babies and have obstacle courses for the crawlers and pre-crawlers.  For the pre-crawlers it encourages their mobility by making it easier and enticing them with toys.  They even have open-gym time where you can bring your baby in for free unstructured play.  So far, Huxley's been to three classes and he's loved it.    

At his last class he and another baby got practice clobering each other.  It was cute.  He also found this soft squishy toy that he didn't want to give up.  I thought I was going to have to buy it and take it with us.  

Baby Friends

After the zoo...

We attended a neighborhood grill out and several of the neighborhood babies attended.  They ranged in ages from 7 to 10 months.  Only one amongst them could crawl and liked to go from baby to baby having tug of wars with their toys.  It was cute.  She came over to Huxley and took a cube away from him, and he took it right back.  We have about 8 babies in our neighborhood under 1 year, so Huxley is going to have lots of playmates as he grows.  

Unfortunately all of this sharing gave Huxley his second cold.  It wasn't bad during the day - just at night.  He'd wake up nearly every hour crying.  I was glad when his cold was over so we could both get a long nights sleep.  

Click here for pictures of Huxley at the grillout.

Toofer # 3

We're going through our third teething experience.  Huxley's cutting his upper front tooth.  It's about to break through the gums and looks to be a big one.  He's been pretty fussy during the day but has been sleeping really well at night.  He's been sleeping for 11 hours straight and he normally will only sleep for 10 hours. Hopefully he'll keep this up.  

He starting teething Thursday and was pretty inconsolable.  His lamaze puppy wouldn't make him happy, nor the blinds, Spike, or any of his other toys.  I finally gave up and played his one and only DVD.  He was absolutely quiet for the 30 minutes it played - but only if I sat right behind him.  If I tried to pick up his toys that had been strewn across the floor - that was not allowed.   

Today looks to be another fussy day.  I think we'll just watch his DVD over and over and over again.  

Playroom

Huxley is almost to the point of crawling and already has a tonnage of toys. We've started to make a playroom for him up in the loft. Below if my first addition...

I've constructed a play table for him:


I constructed it out of 2 by 4s and a sheet of 1/2" plyboard.


I found some really cool paint that adds a grassy texture to the surface:


My hope is that Huxley will start off with cars and figure toys, move up to wooden trains, then electric trains, and finally to Lego cities or castles.


The construction was fairly easy thanks to help from uncle Zach and Huxley's cousin Austin. Thanks for the help guys!

The table came out at a mighty 6' by 3' and stands 18" tall.

Almost there!

Huxley is very close to crawling.  Just yesterday he started doing full body push-ups and getting on all fours.  It won't be long now!

First Zoo Trip

We took Huxley for his first big adventure to the zoo.  While he may still be a little young for the zoo, it was good stimulation for him.  It also showed him that other animals aside from Spike do exist.

He got to see lemurs, giraffes, elephants, hippos, and he got to pet a billy goat at the petting zoo.  

 Our first stop was the lemurs and he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at.  The lemurs were hiding in the trees, but then they  jumped down to Huxley's eye level and went crazy chattering to each other - that got Huxley's attention.  The elephants were his favorite.  Jason kept trying to take his picture in front of the elephants, but we couldn't tear Huxley's eyes away from the elephant.

The lions were asleep and the dolphin shows were sold out.  We got signed up for a zoo membership so I'm sure we'll be back to see them and probably go to Zoo Boo and all the other holiday events. 

On our way out we of course had to buy Huxley souvenirs.  He got a "Tails" board book and a Koala puppet.  He loves them both.  

Go to Jason's Photo Gallery to see more pictures from Huxley's first zoo trip.

Jumper Fun

Huxley got to try this out at our last neighborhood party. We went out and bought one the very next day. We just can't stop buying him toys. It's an addiction - a good one though.

It didn't take Huxley long to figure out his jumper. He loves to jump!

Jumpy Time

Huxley sure does love his jumper. Above is one of the few times he takes a break from his workout. (I'll see if I can get mom to post a video.)

Huxley and the Spice Rack

Here's a random video of Huxley and the spice rack. I set him on the counter, he turned around, got all excited and started spinning the spice rack like mad. He gets really excited when the spices fall out and tries to get the rest of the spices to do the same.

During month seven he really became fascinated with everyday objects like the remote, cell phones, the refrigerator, the blinds, and anything within his reach.