Luke: 8 months

Weight: 17 lbs. 3 oz.

Height: 27.5 in.

The best news this month is that Luke is consistently sleeping through the night now! I decided to do sleep training on a whim in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago. The first night he cried for almost 3 hours with me going in every 10 minutes or so to help him calm down and get to sleep. The second night was about 1.5 hours and the 3rd night was about 45 minutes. He's slept 10-12 hours straight many of the nights since. He has woken up a few times in the night this week, but I don't feed him and can usually help him get back to sleep in about 10-15 minutes.

His naps improved too when I night weaned him. Our routine is for me to turn the sound machine on, lay him down on his tummy in his crib with his pacifier in his mouth, pat his back a little and then leave him to fall asleep on his own. About half the time I have to go back in and do it another time, but if I notice right when he gets sleepy, I can put him down and he'll go right to sleep.

His right top front tooth came in about 2 weeks ago. Once I knew he wasn't in pain from that, I decided we could do sleep training. His other top front tooth doesn't appear to be very close to coming in so he's going to look pretty snaggle-toothed for a while.

The biggest developmental milestone for this month is that he is pulling up on everything! He loves to walk along the couch or other furniture and prefers to be standing at all times. He especially loves to crawl up to you and pull up on your legs. It's bothersome when I'm trying to cook or walk around and have to pry him off my legs before I can take a step, but Kory assures me it's worse when you have hairy legs for him to grab onto.

Now that he is sleeping better at night, he is eating a LOT in the daytime. He's eating less purees and more solids, because he really likes to feed himself. He doesn't know how to chew very well yet, so Cheerios and veggie straws are the main things he feeds himself. We're still doing yogurt and/or prunes every day to help his tummy issues. The one day we didn't feed him either of those led to a really bad night of screaming again, so we'll continue with that routine for now.

Luke sort of drank from a bottle this month. He still doesn't love it, but he did figure out he could suck on it and get milk out. He mostly chewed on it, though, and it took forever to get him to finish the bottle.

At 8 months, Luke:

• has 3 teeth
• wears size 2 diapers
• fits in 6-9 month clothing

He looks so much like my little brother, Andy, when he was a baby. This outfit was worn by my brothers in the 1980s and the resemblance is so strong in these pictures!

Luke is SUCH a happy baby! He will play in his or Peter's room by himself for 20-30 minutes at a time, which is really helpful for me in getting stuff done around the house. He loves to crawl all over you if you'll lay down on the floor. He prefers to be standing or upright at all times, if possible. He only uses his pacifier when he's tired or asleep. If you'll make eye contact, he's got a big smile for you and has started babbling, mostly saying "da".  

I LOVE this stage of babyhood. He comes crawling to me SO fast when he sees me. He sleeps all night and naps well. He loves to sit on my hip and be carried around but can also be set down and play independently for a bit. I feel certain he'll be walking before long, so I'm just soaking up this sweet stage before I have to chase him all over.