[8 months] Busy girl

The greatest advancement in Lara's development this month is mobility.

I'm not referring to crawling - she can't crawl yet, at least not in the right direction - I'm referring to the various movements of her body. There are lots of head-lifting, head-tuning and body-twising to see what's going on around her. There's constant leg-kicking. When she sit and play on her mat, she's persistently reaching out towards toys in sight. She also starts to show a liking for board books, touching the pictures and turning the pages.

When Lara is awake, she's one very BUSY girl!





Photos: Lara on her play mat. She moved from the position in the first photo to the second photo (note where the green couch was) in less than a minute.

Other things to note at 8 months:

Weight: 9.4 kilo
Height: 69 cm
Head circumference: 45 cm

Mental development -

• Generally very happy. Smile and chuckle a lot.


• Make distinct cooing sound when she likes something.


• Have demonstrated:


• Affection- Lara would pull me towards her or move her body towards me usually at night or early in the morning. I read that she's "pressing in" and 'cuddling' me to show affection. Daddy is a little jealous because she only does it to Mummy.


• Persistence - Anything illegal generates lots of interest.


• Preference- Like the colour "blue". We have some blocks of different colours. She picked the blue colour ones out first. She watches the weather report on TV because it has blue background.


• Anticipation- Expect the tickling bit at the end of 'round and round the garden'.

Physical development -

• Still put everything in her mouth.


• Eat well. Started on protein (lentils only, will start on meat/fish soon).


• Sit well. Fall over a lot less.


• Can open windows (flaps that look like "windows" on her toys).


• Good bowel movements - generally twice a day (occasionally 3 times).


• Drinking water off a training cup/bottle. Practicing to hold the cup with Mummy's help.

On the eve of her 8-month birthday, Lara "officially" rolled over. I think she had rolled over before. But Husband said it didn't count because either it was from her tummy to her back (it only counts if it's from her back to her tummy) or it was by accident, not intentional (such a hard taskmaster Daddy is). Well she did two 'controlled' roll-over from her back to her tummy yesterday- even Daddy had to admit it was a roll-over.

Lara is no longer being wrapped at night.

ps. Thanks to Snoozen who lent us the lovely play mat featured in the photos.