Eek! Where the heck have the last 8 months gone!? I had planned to do an Elian update every 2 months but I totally missed the 6 month one as it was just before Christmas and we were so busy that it never got written, so there are some major changes between Elian now and the last updated I did about him at 4 months old.
Elian was weighed a few weeks ago and he was 19.4lbs! My little chunky monkey! Although as he is pretty tall he doesn’t look very chunky. He fits 6-9 month clothing most of the time, but his legs are really long so sometimes we have to size up for the length.
He Loves: The Furchester Hotel and The Lorax, trying new food, Chewy the Hippo, selfies, pulling himself up on furniture and walking whilst holding hands, being thrown in the air, swimming and he also goes mad for suckable yogurt pouches!!
He Hates: Getting dressed, having his nappy put on, still hates being in the back of the car on his own and still hates being put down to nap or sleep
Milestones: Well he has been crawling like there is no tomorrow since he was 7 months old, and for the last 2 weeks he has been pulling himself up to standing using the furniture and wants to walk all the time with you holding his hands. We are on to solid food but are still breastfeeding also. He still doesnt have any teeth, not even a little sign of them, but we do think he is starting to properly teeth as he is so grizzly some days and when he cries he sucks his lips in to cover his gums, won’t let you see or feel in his mouth and often bangs his hand on his mouth, or bangs his mouth on your shoulder. Lastly he is saying ‘Dada’ and has been for ages!! He literally spent 2 days only saying ‘dada’!
Although not a technical milestone, he has had a swimming milestone! He can now hold onto the edge of the pool and take his own weight to keep his head above water! Which at 6.5 months old was amazing to see! He adores the water lots so we are continuing our Water Baby Lessons for now.
Sleeping: Well this hasn’t really changed a lot since his 4 month update. He still won’t be put down for a nap during the day and he still won’t sleep in his cot!!! So we bed-share, which I really don’t mind too much as we are still breastfeeding and he has 1-2 feeds during the night still, but I barely wake as he will just latch on whilst I sleep. If he was in the cot in his own room it would mean me getting out of bed, so I sleep better with him in bed with us at the moment. But the plan is to start trying to put him in his cot again soon and hope he doesn’t wake for a feed as he will be away from me. But the main issue at the moment is the fact he doesnt want to go to bed at a reasonable hour. He is wide awake until around 11pm, we have tried taking him up to bed but he just climbs all over the bed and won’t stay still or lie down, so we are usually battling to get him to sleep between 11-12 which is hard as it means me and Jon get very little time together or to work, or we end up staying up way later just to have time to do anything.
His naps in the day have been longer recently though, he used to just have 20-40 mins sleeping on me after a feed. But quite often he will sleep for over 2 hours now, which I think is due to the fact he is burning so much energy crawling around as he doesn’t stop! It means I often get very little done during the day as he will only nap on me though.
Feeding: We started baby led weaning a week before Elian turned 6 months. He had been able to sit up and was literally staring us out every time we ate in front of him, he was constantly trying to grab food off our plates so we thought it was about time to start him on solids. And we are incredibly lucky he loves everything! There was the odd gagging incident, which for a parent is terrifying, but overall he has been really good with learning to chew and pick up his food. He makes a lot of mess but he loves it! We started off with vegetables and fruits but then moved on to all sorts of other food. I filmed him trying his first few foods and you can see them on our YouTube Channel . We are still breastfeeding on demand and he is a total boob monster! Loves boobing lots, both for food and for comfort if he is tired or feeling grizzly with his teething. He has also started having a beaker of water with his food (and sometimes during the day if he wants it) which he loves, as the beaker has handles and a straw he can drink it himself which he thinks is great.
and me…I’m doing pretty good! My scar has healed lovely and you can barely see it. I still get the odd twinge from it, especially if Elian kicks me or stands on it but it’s great 99% of the time. I haven’t lost any of my baby weight yet, which I’m ok with at the moment, but I will start trying to lose it soon I think. I’ve made a load of really lovely mum friends thanks to a few of the local playgroups and we often go out for playdates and even dinner without the babies. It is lovely to have local friends with kids as my best friends all live over an hour away. Sleep wise I’m ok as we get plenty of sleep to be honest, its just the not going to bed bit that is hard. I spend most of my day trying to entertain the boy and crawling around with him on the floor which is tiring but fun!
So thats the boy at 8 months old! I have no doubt the next 2 months will fly by just as fast and he will be 10 months in no time, which is so scary!
