New with Boone

Boone is constantly changing. It is hard to believe he is 8 months old today. The last couple of months Boone has had a cranky time right before supper that I not-so-affectionately call "The Witching Hour". During this time he insists on being carried around. I have become an expert at getting supper ready around 3 pm. This way I only have to do a couple of things during "The Witching Hour" to get a meal on the table by the time Hugh gets home from work! This week we have had a couple of days without his pre-meal crankiness, so I am hoping that this phase is on its way out! All that said, Boone is definitely our happy baby.

Boone attended his first Shellbrook Elks' hockey game 2 weeks ago. He normally goes to bed between 6:00 and 6:30 pm for the night, so I pictured him falling asleep in the van and remaining asleep for the duration of the game. Boone had a completely different picture in his mind. As soon as we put the van in park he popped his eyes open and didn't close them again until we were back on the road around 11:30 pm. During that time at the game there was a few cranky moments, but they were truly just moments. He was great. I had been feeling a little sad before the game that the routine Calder and I got into last winter at Hugh's games was over, because I would have to be more focused on Boone. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Hamilton like to stay inside to watch and LOVE to have some Boone cuddles, so Calder and I got a whole period outside cuddled under a blanket watching the action!

Boone has made shy approximately 3 times. This does not include the times he makes shy with my brother, Luke, which would push that number into double digits easily. For some reason Boone gets beside himself when Uncle Luke makes the move for some lovin'. Sometimes Boone even gets a quivering lip or tears just looking at Uncle Luke! I have done some stern talking with Boone about this. I'm not sure what my thoughts on karma are, but I DO NOT want Luke's future children to make shy with me! Luke handles it quite well. I would not!

Boone is on the move. He is still army crawling most of the time. A month ago he took his first crawling "steps" and he takes some every day, but I think he finds army crawling faster, so he will take a couple of steps and fall onto his belly and revert back to army crawling. You can't reason with an 8th month old that he just needs practice, so I am enjoying him at his slow pace. 

Boone has been much happier on the floor playing this last week since he has master going from his belly to his bum. He slithers over to a new toy and can smoothly (or not so smoothly) sit himself up. He  started doing this about a month ago as well, but until this past week only did it on rare occasions! 

Boone is still our pork chop. He got off to a steady start when it came to eating solids, but this past week has turned into a bottomless pit. He LOVES finger food and his favorites are green beans, any protein, and any kind of carb. I have started hiding other veggies in rice cereal and apple sauce. I am slowly putting less and less of the sweet stuff in to get him eating actual veggies! He also loves egg yolk mixed in apple sauce which is great to get some added iron. He will eat any kind of pureed fruit and yesterday tried yogurt for the first time and downed the whole 100 g cup!

Early morning coffee date? We are in. Boone gets up for the day before 6 am. Lots of mornings (like this morning) it is around 5:15 am. I have done a tremendous amount of reading about this and consulted a sleep expert and it turns out there isn't much to do about it. He naps well and keeping him up later doesn't make for a later start to our day, so we just leave Boone in his crib until 6 am. Most of the time he is just hanging out there but he does do some crying. It isn't always easy to leave him in there, but we can't have him thinking 5:15 is when the day starts. It doesn't work for our family. This week we had a couple of mornings that he didn't get up until 6 am, so hopefully we will see more and more of those in the coming weeks. That being said, he goes to bed for naps and night like a dream and sleeps right through the night. This was done with the help of The Baby Whisperer!

Boone's favorite toys these days are the ones he can stand up at. He has pulled himself to stand once. Hugh and I didn't see, but he got himself up to stand using a footstool. Calder swears he didn't help and I believe him. There more than likely would have been tears if he had! Because Boone hasn't mastered  pulling himself up yet, it means we have to prop him up at his toy so that he can play. There have been a couple of spills, but for the amount of time he spends standing they have been very minimal. Boone also loves to play with anything Calder is playing with. Subsequently, I have begun teaching Calder the art of distraction. Calder is slowing improving on this skill, but mostly relies on moving Boone to another area of the room. Please don't picture Calder heaving Boone up in his arms (although that might be hilarious, it would also be a recipe for tears!). Calder will grab Boone by his ankles or wrists and pull him around the hardwood. At first I wasn't so sure this was a good thing, but you should hear Boone laugh when Calder does this. It might be the easiest way to get a belly laugh out of Boone.

Boone is still sucking his thumb. He only takes to it in bed and only his left thumb! I have learned to put his left arm through his sleep sack first, so that if he is a bit tired he can quickly pop that thumb into his mouth. Boone enjoys books before bed and will always giggle when we crack one open. Right now he is into the ones with different textures inside.

I can't tell you how much we love this little man.