Katje's Corner: Lexi is eight months old!

During this month, the weather finally got warm enough to go out in shorts (or a little spring dress) and sit in the grass. First Lexi tried to pat the grass down, but it wouldn't stay down. Then she tried to pick it up, but it wouldn't lift off the ground. She found this rather intriguing for a good 15 minutes. By time I took these photos, Lexi had figured out how to rip the grass up by the handful and just needed me to look the other way for a moment so she could get it in her mouth for sampling.

Eating rice puffs one after the other.

Lexi's development seems to accelerate each month. At the beginning of the seventh month, she gummed anything she could put into her mouth, but didn't seem to understand the concept of feeding herself. She wasn't interested in the small things like peas or Cheerios; just the big things like cups, towels, cell phones, and other things she shouldn't put in her mouth. Now at the end of the seventh month, she can pick up a rice puff, situate it in her hand just so, and put it in her mouth so proudly. I cheer her on each time and now she even applauds herself with a fist-and-hand clap. Sometimes I try to get her to feed me a rice puff. She makes like she's going to put her fist in my mouth but then pulls it back and puts the cereal in her own mouth while laughing at me. The kid has a sense of humor already.

She just noticed she has ears on her feet.

I thought she'd be crawling by now. She's been so close to succeeding, but she's still not quite there. Right now she's doing this sideways thing where she's up on her arms and one bent knee, but she keeps her left leg straight and frequently ends up sliding backwards instead of lurching forward. As much as she is going backwards, she doesn't seem to get too upset. Maybe it's because she's going somewhere and when she gets there she bumps into something she can examine.

She knows certain little routines. When I put a pull-over bib on her head, she pulls it down so her head pops through. When we walk up the stairs she turns to the right so she can turn the light switch on, and then turns to the left so she can take the ceiling fan remote control off the wall as we enter her bedroom. When changing outfits I tug the cuff of her right sleeve and she releases whatever she is holding on to and pulls her arm out, then transfers the object she is holding to that hand and pulls her other arm out right as I am getting ahold of that sleeve. Then she lifts her head so I can pull the shirt over her head. We've been changing clothes nearly every day since she was born, but I am just amazed that she knows to do this before I am ready, and she was only seven months old when she clearly showed she knew what she was doing.

Winnie-the-Pooh giving Lexi kisses on the cheek.

At naptime and bedtime, she's become quite attached to her little Winnie-the-Pooh bear holding a honey bee with crinkly wings. All is right in the world when she is holding it in her little hand and making the bee's wings crinkle. She's just so cute laying there with her eyes closed holding the bear to her face and working those wings, that I want to watch her fall asleep at the risk of waking her by my presence. Sometimes before I give her the bear I make pretend that he is kissing her on the cheeks. She thinks that is funny. And when that grows old, I get new laughs by having Pooh kiss me on the cheeks.