If Nicole's mantra as a baby was "Go Forth and {Cheerfully} Explore" then Austin's mantra is "Smile and Chill." He lets just about anyone hold him. He's relaxed and receptive, and he isn't one to rush things. He loves to observe rather than get in the fray, but he's anything but shy. He's a friendly kid, and gets very loud sometimes. VERY loud. I'm not exaggerating.
Our sweet little boy has finally accepted that sitting up is a good thing, so he no longer fights me when I sit him down on the floor. He can sit indefinitely. He still hasn't caught the movement bug, however (like I said... "Smile and Chill") although he occasionally scoots himself forward an inch or two if he reeeeeally wants something just out of reach. It's got to be something highly desirable though. More often than not, he moves himself backwards when he tries to go forwards. He can rotate in any direction, at least.
As shown in the lovely close-up above, he has 6 teeth! You can see what I like to call his "vampire teeth" up top, as well as one top front tooth that's barely broken through. The other top front tooth is working it's way out right now. 6 teeth in the space of one month, poor kid!
Teething (combined with being out of town and having a teeny cold over the weekend) really messed with his sleep patterns for a while. We're getting back to normal, though. He takes a 1.5 hour nap in the morning and his afternoon nap ranges from 1.5-3 hours, depending on the day. He no longer takes a third nap (and that transition is another thing that probably contributed to his sleep regression).
He chatters "Dadadadadadada" to himself all day, shrieks like a banshee when he's excited or upset, and laughs until he's red in the face if I pretend to "eat" his chubby neck.
In the past month, Austin has: been in 3 new states, gone swimming for the first time, devoured his very first slice of homemade pizza (the first of many!), stayed in his first hotel room, started actually paying attention to books when I read to him, and has perfected the "pincer grip" technique. This means that while I tried to capture the picture below, he spent most of the time concentrating on picking the tiniest twigs and leaves off the ground instead of looking up to smile. And yes, some of those leaves made it to his mouth before I got them out of his hands ;)
^^^The goobers were never smiling/looking at the camera at the same time, of course. And Nicole didn't want Austin to touch her. Bahahahaha. *Sigh.
Occasionally I catch Austin swaying side-to-side to the beat of a song. If he really likes the song he'll bounce, but he prefers swaying.
Sometimes when I'm carrying him, he leans back away from me so that he can make eye contact with me, and rewards me with a huge grin.
He has done a little wave with his hand once or twice, but I can't get him to repeat the action yet.
He almost never naps on the go, he loves talking to his reflection on my phone camera, and he has this hilarious habit of scraping his hands across carpet in hopes of finding loose strands of hair he can try putting in his mouth. Hilarious, but kind of gross.
He's still my snuggle bug, and he's such a bright little addition to our family. Happy 8 months, Austin!
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