8 Months/The Sweet Spot

Lola bean turned 8 months old last weekend...

Can you believe she's that old?? 

                            

My girl is growing like a weed and changing so fast daily. More and more we catching glimpses of what she'll be like as a kid not just a baby. Its wild.

 This month was all about Lola's personality. And Lola's personality is all about happiness. I swear she's smiling all day long. And she has a great sense of humour too, you can already see hints of that poking through. Like in the random things she finds funny, the joy she seems to get in cracking other people up. I have a feeling she's going to be quite the little comedienne one day.

But this month has not been without its challenges. After several months of going down without so much as whimper, Lola just suddenly started taking 30-40minutes to settle. While I'm sure this is quite a normal thing, it was just so out of character for Lola. And she was only doing it at night, not before naps. We couldn't' figure out what was wrong. Separation anxiety? Teething? Growth spurt? Is she eating enough? Is she eating too much? Is she eating too many new things? Yet again I found myself questioning everything just like those good ol' early days.

In the end some sniffles and a cough tipped us off to the probable culprit: a cold. Sean also caught it and was absolutely miserable. We finally had some insight into how our little monkey was feeling. After some baby advil and extra cuddles, Lola's sleep mostly returned to normal, although it still took us probably another two weeks to get to where we are now, back to minimal resistance at sleep time. Tonight she cried for a minute or two but looks like it was more related to finding a comfy position. All of a sudden Lola is preferring sleeping on her belly exclusively, with her bum high up in the air. No more side-sleeping for her. Problem is, it takes her a little while to get it just right, especially given that we still put her on her back to sleep. I know I could probably help her out and put her on her belly right from the start but I prefer to let her make that call. It makes me feel like then I've at least tried and at the same time shes getting some practice at rolling herself over and trying new movements. If we're gonna get crawling any time soon, she's gotta work out those muscles! 

The other thing about this month is that Lola has become a master at amusing herself. She can play on her own for an extended period of time. If you throw Charlie in to the mix, even longer. Although when that happens we have to be quite vigilant. Lola doesn't quite have the whole petting thing down, she prefers to grab and twist, especially Charlie's eyelids. Poor guy. He loves the attention and loves being near her but its definitely at a sacrifice. One time we didn't get to Lola quick enough and Charlie finally let out a loud yelp. He's such a great boy though, he still hardly moved. Any other dog might have snapped instinctively. But not our Charlie boy. We are so lucky.

Its been so nice to have Lola be able to play on her own. She's starting to really love toys and is so curious. It gives Sean and I plenty of time to make dinner together or just relax for a few minutes even when she's awake. Before this month I thought that was damn near impossible!

So yes, its been a great, great month. I know I say this often but it just seems like this is such a perfect age. We are in such a sweet spot right now - Lola is engaged and interactive, self-occupied and autonomous but at the same time immobile and relatively non-verbal making protest still largely a non-issue. I wish I could freeze time.

Anyway, I'm feeling quite proud of myself for completing this 8 month post only one measly little week after the fact! To celebrate, I am off to bed! Gnite!