8 Months

Elijah is close to being on the go. He is constantly wiggling and reaching for things when you hold him. It is getting pretty difficult to hold him because he is getting strong. When you put him down, so he will learn to crawl, he cries. I think he is just getting frustrated because he wants to be mobile and the only way he thinks he can be mobile is by being carried around. He does spend at least an hour a day in his pack and play sitting up or laying on his belly. He can pivot around on his belly. We try to spend time with him upstairs on the carpet everyday too. We tuck his legs under him but he just kicks them back out. He is getting pretty good at standing on our laps so maybe he will just skip crawling. Hopefully when it is nicer out we can put him outside on his blanket to encourage him to move around.

Elijah's vocabulary is increasing. He used to say dadadada, or hi dadada. Now he says ma. It is usually when he is whining and it more of a mmmmaaaaaaaaa, ma, mmmmmaaaaaa or mamama. He also yells at Delia and says a somewhat recognizable form of Delia. He doesn't have any teeth yet. He is getting pretty good at picking finger foods off his tray and putting them in his mouth and "chewing" them. They disolve so it doesn't really matter that he doesn't have any teeth. We are also trying to introduce him to the sippy cup. He mostly just plays with it or chews on the nipple.

Elijah is now wearing a "helmet" 23 hours a day to help his head form more symetrically. He doesn't seem to mind it. Nick and I are already noticing a difference. We are hoping he doesn't have to wear it for the 4 - 6 months that is the average time for a child to wear it. We get lots of comments from little kids and lots of stares from adults. I understand it is an unusual thing to see but some adults have no tact. Luckily we haven't gotten any mean comments. I probably wouldn't handle that to well. One little kid was so cute, he told his mom "that little boy looks like he is in outerspace". I miss the way Elijah looks without the helmet on. He gets lots of kisses and cuddles when it is off for the alotted 1 hour a day. It is hard to give him kisses when it is on. He will get his head measured again at the end of this week so we will be able to tell if the helmet truely is making a difference.