Om Update! Long overdue

Om turned 8 months on April 18th. He is very mobile now, commando crawl and rolling all over the place. He also began sitting up by himself (before we would need to put him in the sitting position, but if he fell to tummy position he wouldn't be able to get back to a sitting position by himself).

He gets into everything...his curiousity is at its peak! He's eyeing the table tops and sofa cushions for potential toys. I don't let anything hang from tables otherwise he pulls the cords HARD and down comes whatever else was with it!

His eyesight is keen...he sees the tiniest crumbs on the floor that are camoflauged to my eyes (and then proceeds to insert nasty item in mouth). He notices and hears everything. If his Dad is upstairs getting ready in the morning and we are downstairs, he listens to the music coming through the walls and the sound of water going down the drain pipes. If children are playing outside, he tilts his head around looking for the origin of the sound. Birds are his favorite...the chirps that I have learned to tune out he relishes and looks toward the window in hopes of seeing said bird. One of his favorite activities is watching the crows eat crackers that I've put out in the backyard.

Om is such a little fireball. Set him down anywhere, and he immediately searches for something to play. We have attended a few playdates and storytimes, and Om is not hesitant to venture away from Mommy and explore the new world around him. He especially likes interacting with other babies and tots. He will grab their hair, ears, or toy they are holding without so much as a glance. The expression on the other babies faces is priceless...they are usually left wondering what happened to the toy they were mouthing and why was hair just pulled? During storytime at the library he sings his own words along with the rhymes...I have to bounce him to get him to quiet down so that we can hear what the storyteller is saying!

My favorite part about Om is his sense of humor...he smiles so easily....he doesn't hold any facial expression back. If a cashier is talking to him, he will gift her his toothy grin. If I am across the room busy in something, and then suddenly look up to see where Om is, he will display a wide mischevious grin and say "eeeeeeh" and then turn away in an almost shy manner when he realizes he's being noticed. Sometimes I just need to look in his eyes and laugh, and he will laugh back at the secret joke. One of our favorite games is to pretend that there is a baby stuck to my head. I take Om and put him on my head and say "there is a baby on my head! get it off get it off! eeeek!" and then Om giggles. Another game is blowing rasberries on his stomach....there is nothing sweeter than the sound of a baby's laugh!

Om's current favorite toys are his jumperoo and any container taken from the kitchen. He also enjoys watching Baby Einstein videos while sitting in his high chair and munching on crackers. He smiles and coos at the puppets. For eating, it is a cycle...some days Om will eat 16 ounces of baby food, and other days he will not even allow a spoon to enter his mouth. Last week he was 17.5 lbs, so he is gaining about a pound a month. Not sure if that is normal, but I don't know what else I can do to encourage weight gain...this month we have started full fat yogurt so maybe that will help.

He loves to take toys and wave them in the air. I think he is trying to determine how the toy works and what sounds it makes when bumped against something. Speaking of bumping, Om bangs his palms on any flat surface, such as tiles, hard wood floor, or table.

The worse part of this time is the seperation anxiety...Om doesn't last more than 5 minutes in any play area unless I am sittng very close. Stranger anxiety has also set in...he loves interacting with people from afar, but not necessarily when he is in their lap.

Om is blissfully continuing to sleep through the night. He goes to bed at 8pm, and then wakes at 6am without any feeding during the night. Sometimes he wakes up at 5am, which is when I feed him and then put him back down to sleep. He'll babble to himself for a while before going back to sleep until 7am. We attribute his good sleeping behavior to sleeping in a seperate room from us.

Our house is filled with the sound of "Daa daaa dadada" all day long...I don't think Om knows what he is saying, but it's his favorite word, and it is usually associated with some material thing (toys, household items). He also blows rasberries frequently. I think the rasberries are associated with pretend play...he takes a toy and then holds it up and blows a rasberry...maybe he's mimicing a sound that he imagines must be coming from the toy? :-)

Om and his best friend Jovin. You can tell which one is Om hehe.