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| Payton Ashley- 7 months old |
8 Month Stats:
Age: 8 months
Weight: estimated about 20 pounds still
Height: not sure, but she is very tall
Favorite toy: Fisher Price lap top and all books
New foods: broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, pears, peaches, cinnamon, oatmeal, sweet potato fries
Favorite food: avocado
Least favorite food: apple or brocolli
Number of teeth: 8!!!!
Makes her smile: when her Daddy gets home from work or makes faces at her from across the room
Makes her laugh: just a few random laughs lately
Makes her cry: teething pain
Favorite place to be: rolling around on the ground, being carried
Can say: no new words
Milestones: scooting herself across the floor backwards and a little bit forwards, clapping her hands, tries to use my shirt to pull herself to a standing position, stands on her own while holding onto furniture (doesn’t pull herself up yet)
Clothing size: 12- 18 months
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| Smiling for the camera |
Teeth
Payton’s 8th month started out a bit painful. In a period of 1 ½ weeks she went from having 2 teeth to having 6. Then a week later she got her 7th and 8th teeth. So now she has four on top and four on bottom. 8 teeth before she even turned 8 months old! She was pretty fussy for about a week as all of those teeth were coming in. Tylenol and Orajel do seem to offer her some relief. The Tylenol also seems to make her sleepy which isn’t a bad thing when she’s hurting.
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| Payton has lots of toys that she enjoys playing with. |
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| So cute! :) |
Swimming
In mid-May we started taking Payton to the beach to go swimming. She likes to sit where the waves are rolling in, observe all that is around her, and occasionally splash her hands in the water. She seems to really enjoy the water and isn’t upset even when a larger wave splashes her in the face. Payton also likes trying to eat sand and likes to play under the shade of a beach umbrella. We also bought an inflatable baby pool for the backyard. In the baby pool she enjoys playing with (chewing on) her bath toys. I sit in the baby pool with her because she sometimes tries to take a nose dive into the water. Other than swimming, there are not a lot of outdoor activities that Payton can participate in because it has just gotten too hot. We tried to take Payton to the park (Castle/Schrieber Park) but it was so hot, there was very little shade, and there wasn’t much there that Payton could play with. We do occasionally sit on our front porch because it’s in the shade most of the day and being two blocks from the Gulf it generally has a nice (though warm) breeze.
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| Payton and Mommy at the beach. |
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| Payton loves the water. |
Moving Around/ Playing
At the beginning of Payton’s 7th month she learned how to roll across the room. She then learned how to rotate herself 360 degrees on her stomach and learned to scoot herself backwards. By the end of the month, Payton discovered that she can hold toys with her feet while lying on her back. This has become one of her new favorite games. It’s like she has 4 hands to use to play with her toys. It’s very funny and she’s actually quite good at it! If you stand Payton up and place her where she can hold onto something (like a chair) she can stand a few seconds on her own. She’s also started showing signs of trying to grab a hold of my shirt to pull herself up. One day before turning 8 months old, Payton learned to clap her hands. She doesn’t do it on command or for any reason that we can tell…. She just claps when she feels like it.
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| Daddy and Payton playing on the beach. |
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| Playing in the baby pool in our backyard. |
Growing Fast!
I’m not sure how tall Payton is or really how much she weighs (though we estimate about 20 pounds when putting her on our adult scale), but I do know she is growing at a fast rate right now! Near the beginning of May she started wearing 9-12 month clothes and less than 3 weeks later many of them were already too small and she started wearing 12-18 month clothes! It’s amazing to me that my 7 ½ month old is wearing 18 month clothes! I wonder if she will always be tall for her age? Right now she is definitely taking after Charles when it comes to her size.
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| 8 months old and in 18 month sized clothes! |
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| Payton having fun with her Aunt Debbie |
Memorial Day
Memorial Day weekend Charles’ sister Debbie came to visit from Charlotte, North Carolina, and his mom, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins came to visit from Dallas, Houston, and the Woodlands. It was very fun to be able to see everyone and spend time with them. Payton especially loves her Aunt Debbie, who is wonderful with babies. We went out to eat several times and spent time at Charles’ cousin’s house on a canal on Galveston Bay in celebration of his cousin Briana’s high school graduation.
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| Daddy and Payton having fun in their Mickey Mouse hats. |
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| Payton and cousin Nate, reaching for each other. |
Eating
Payton still nurses around 6-7 times in a 24 hour period and eats two meals of solid food a day. Payton didn’t seem to care for broccoli, baked potato, or peaches. She does seem to like carrots, pears, oatmeal, cauliflower, and cinnamon. Right before Payton turned 8 months old we decided that since she has 8 teeth that we should start giving her some finger foods to try to eat on her own. Up until that point, all the foods we’d given her were pureed. So we tried baked sweet potato fries. She played with them but didn’t seem to realize that she was supposed to eat them. We will keep trying to offer her finger foods once a day. Even if all she does is play with them, it at least allows us all to eat dinner together at the table. She also learned to hold her own sippy cup when drinking water.
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| Payton and Daddy on the Bay |
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| Nana, I love your bracelets! |
Talking
Payton didn’t learn any new consonants this month. She still just says “Mamama” and “Ahhhhh”, plus she shrieks really loud, especially when she’s excited about something. At the beginning of June she started smacking her lips and two weeks later she started buzzing her tongue. We used to call these “mouth farts” but now we’re not sure we want her learning the word “fart”. Whatever they are called, they definitely make us laugh. Especially when you say something like, “Awww, the baby is so tired” and in response she buzzes her tongue at you.
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| Nana, Grandma, Payton, and Debbie |
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| Becky, Charles, and Payton on Galveston Bay |
