8 months old!

Time is flying (as it always is).  Not only is Gemma already 8 months old, but she's now almost 9 months old and I'm behind the ball in posting this.  But, let's be honest, I don't think I even posted a 7 month update at all. 

Let's talk about this little lady and what she's doing at 8 months old.....

The day after her "8 month birthday" she started crawling.  There was no progression, ladies and gentlemen.  She wasn't an army crawler, not even really a scooter (maybe some backward action)...she mostly rotated on her belly to move around and she didn't go far.  She did, however, often get up on all fours and rock back and forth.  So, on February 19, she finally put one hand in front of the other and TOOK OFF!  We have an official, properly crawling baby!  Are we ready and baby-proofed?  Not at all...work in progress.  She also loves to sit on her knees and bounce - smiling at us or Riley while she does it - so proud.

She's also VERY vocal - she likes to boss us around and shout all the time (sounds too familiar to me), and lots and lots of laughs and shrieks, too.  She's very much into Riley these days, too.  She likes to smile at him, crawl to him, "pet" him (ie. pull his hair and pound on him), take his toys, share her food..... 

We also have had some major hair growth lately.  I've been looking at older pictures and videos and my baldy is not quite as bald....she's got beautiful golden hair that's coming in.  Brian says she looks like a boy when I swoop it to the side, but I think she looks like Lloyd Christmas when it's combed forward.  Also, we're not out of the "oh, what a cute little boy" woods, yet - we still wear bows in public.

She's also eating lots of new foods and she prefers foods with flavor and texture.  She's begun to spit food back at us that she doesn't like, too....which is lots of fun.  We're lucky, though - Riley has all of the sudden decided he LOVES plain vegetable purees.  She can also pick up foods with her thumb and forefingers (like cheerios or yogurt melts) and put them in her mouth (which also means she can pick up anything she finds on the ground, too).  She's eating a couple of solid meals a day now.

Her favorite toys are these little balls that she has for her rolling hippo toy, any magazines she can get a hold of, my phone, the remote control, Riley's toys (gross), the bathroom scale, Vulli Sophie, and books.