Crawling Maniac!

So, it's official! I have a crawling maniac on my hands!

It was a little over a month ago I posted photos of Monster on all fours in the crawling position. I had heard from a couple other moms that once the baby gets the balance down pat you can expect your little one to be crawling within two weeks.

Well, two weeks came and went and Monster was not crawling. We kept practicing but ultimately I wasn't overly anxious to have a baby "running" around and getting into everything. The issue stemmed from our laminate flooring. A baby trying to crawl + Pant-covered-knees slipping around on a laminate floor = One frustrated baby.

Sunday evening I decided to remove Monsters pants and see what happened. After a couple sold tries he was finally off and crawling! The best inspiration? The dog food in the dog food dishes!

He's not quite as fast with his pants on, but he's mastered crawling fully clothed too! It's been eventful around here to say the least, but so far I always know where Monster is because he laughs the whole time he's crawling as if to say "Just call me the KING!"

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Eighth Month Check List

A few months ago I was inspired by one of my mommy friends Enyo (please click here for her Facebook Blog Fan Page and become a FAN) to post a checklist of how Monster is measuring up against other babies his age.

I've been using the checklist from my What To Expect in the First Year book. In the book they section the month off into categories, here they are!

By the end of this month, your baby...
...should be able to:

• bear some weight on legs when held upright - Check, for a LONG time.
• feed self a cracker - Check, again, for a long time.
• pass a small object from one hand to the next - Check, long time!
• rake a small object and pick it up into a fist - Check. I replaced the word raisin with small object because he eats puffs and cheerios, however I think raisins are a little far off of his feeding scale.
• Turn in the direction of a voice - Check, for a long time!
• Look for a dropped object - Check. Monster's favorite thing to do is feed our pug LOLA his Gerber Puffs. Lola doesn't mind one bit.

...will probably be able to:

• stand holding onto someone or something - Check. We've been "walking" for a couple months now. 
• object if you try to take a toy away - Check. This one is new from the last couple of weeks. He didn't mind before. That was until he started to grab at things he couldn't have like a PS3 controller...
• work to get a toy out of reach - Check... Toy, dog food dish, microphone cord, curtains, etc.
• play peekaboo - He does something that resembles peekaboo, but I've heard (Thanks Mama to Triple H) that I'll *know* when it's peekaboo. We just don't play it that much...
• get into a sitting position from stomach - He has only done it once, so I'm chalking that up to fluke. He mostly "airplanes" until we pick him up.

...may possibly be able to:

• pull up to a standing position from sitting - Not with everything, just our hands. So I don't feel right saying yes.
• pick up a tiny object with any part of thumb and finger - Check! For about a week and a half! YAY!
• say "mama" and "dada" indiscriminately - No. But he can say "Hi", "Hey", and something that sounds like "Cat" 

...may even be able to:

• play patty cake or wave bye-bye - Check! We have had the waving thing down for almost a month, but the clapping thing just ends up being "Monster BANG" (both hands down).
• walk holding onto furniture - We're starting. He shuffles in his playpen while standing.
• stand alone momentarily - Definitely not.
• understand the word "No", but not always obey it - No, I don't think so. 

Well, there you have it folks! That is a checklist this mama can be proud of!