The Paul + Charity Show

Elijah James, you are 8 months old!

What a wonderful month you have had! You are learning new skills all the time. During your 8th month you mastered crawling. You went from "hopping" along and sprawling out like superman to speed crawling around the house within a couple of weeks. Once you had crawling down, you immediately started pulling yourself up on everything around you. You particularly love the blue cooler that mama uses and papa's childhood stool. Mama and Papa have been amazed. You often pull up on something and sit on your knees, but you also like standing up on your feet while holding on to something.

You have started to chat more with us this month. You say "dadada" quite often, which of course Papa likes to take credit and say that is your first word. Other sounds you make sound like "I did it," "that," "yes". You are definitely talking to us so much more.

Elijah, you are now the proud owner of 4 teeth! You have two on bottom and two on top. These last two teeth have been harder for you to cut than the first two. You've had some cranky moments, but mama and papa understand. You've woken up a few times in the middle of the night and have been moaning. It breaks mama and papa's heart to see you in any kind of pain.

These days, you enjoy crawling all over us. You pull yourself up and grab at hair, beards, noses and glasses. You enjoy banging your toys on the floor, throwing toys around, and investigating them. You also love trying to get into things that you shouldn't, such as Charlie's water bowl and any kind of cord you can find. You tried corn, green beans, and peas this month. Your favorite food is still sweet potato.

Your sleep during your 8th month has been great at home. You routinely sleep through the night, only waking up a few nights when your teeth hurt a lot. You also nap great for us on the weekends. Unfortunately you are still not a great sleeper at daycare, we think you just want to be apart of the action.

You have been busy during your 8th month.You went to your first art show to support our friend Tom, celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, you enjoyed Halloween with your PEPS friends, and went to a pumpkin patch. You also had a few special days with just mama because papa went to Chicago for work.

During your 9th month of life, we think you are looking forward to: Attending your first Seahawks game, your first Thanksgiving, and visiting with family in Iowa.

Here are a few photos and videos from your 8th month of life: