Rooney, 8 Months
Where has the time gone? Roo turned 8 months old on Friday! I never want to forget her as she is right now.
- Two tiny bottom teeth
- A squishy forehead that gets lots of kisses
- Loves to pull herself up to stand
- Wears the chubbiest legs, right down to the toes
- Stingy with smiles
- Chews on everything - but her favorite is mommy's necklaces
- Has found nearly every door stop in our house
[tentblogger-vimeo 51821300]
Rooney had a BIG change this month - a new day care. She has done well, but I think it will take a while longer for her to fully get used to it. She comes to work with me and goes to the day care just down the hall. I can't say how nice it is to just make one stop in the morning, especially when it is rainy and cold!
During the day I visit her a couple times, and it's really great to be able to do that. I've even been able to give her a bottle, put her down for a nap, get her up from a nap, and just get some extra squeezes in. As much as I didn't want to switch her day cares, I am happy we did.
GROWTH
Weight: Rooney weighs 21 pounds, 3 ounces. She gained 1 pound in the past month.
Clothing: She is wearing mostly 12M clothing, but can still fit in a few 9M tops and sweatsuits. She wears size 2 shoes. Still in size 3 diapers during the day, and size 4 at night.
ROUTINE
Eating: Roo eats four 8 oz. bottles per day. She also gets a meal of fruit or oatmeal once per day at day care. Now that she is 8 months we will probably bump it up to two meals a day, including vegetables.
Playing: Rooney is so busy working on her skills! She got her first doll and I am surprised how much she plays with it. She also loves empty water bottles, boxes, remotes, shoes, paper, pens - anything that isn't a toy! Also, now that she knows how big our house is, she doesn't like to be confined in the exersaucer. This makes showering tough when I am home alone with her in the morning.
Naps: She went from taking two 2+ hour naps at her old day care to very little daytime sleep. The new day care is noisier and all the kids sleep in the same room. I'm talking a whole 5 minutes one day last week. Yikes. It has been hard to watch. Her best day was when she took two 45 minutes naps. Not terrible in general, but I know what Rooney needs for day sleep, and she has been very fussy when I pick her up at the end of the day and wants to go to bed (for the night) as soon as we get home at 4:45 p.m. This means Eric does not get to see her much. I'm hoping by the time I post her 9-month update that things will be very different.
Waketime: Rooney's ideal waketime is about 1.5 to 2 hours. She can handle being awake for a couple hours and then it is pretty clear that she wants a nap. I think this is pretty normal for kids her age. She moves a lot when she's awake, so after a couple hours she needs sleep.
Night Sleeping: Because Rooney hasn't been napping well at her new day care, she's slept more than usual at night the past two weeks. About 12-14 hours straight. Before the day care switch, she was sleeping 11-12 hours.
I was really dreading Daylight Savings Time, but it went OK. She got up at 4:15 a.m., but just laid in her crib talking until I got up to feed her at 4:50. Her internal clock likes to wake her up at 5:00 am on a normal day so this wasn't too unusual. We are always trying to move her to a later bedtime, but it seems her internal clock is set to wake up at 5 no matter what. She has never been to bed later than 7:30 (and that has only happened once).
HEALTH
We have been so fortunate with her health (especially since we weren’t able to breastfeed very long). She has never been sick (knock on wood!). I am starting to contribute this to our chiropractic visits. The flu went around her day care last week (even all the teachers got sick!), so I feel lucky that it missed us. I am really hoping she stays healthy through the winter. Our church (where her day care is) is a public building, and thousands of people are in and out of there each week. So, there are definitely more germs for her to fight off.
She did scrape up her nose last week when I took her outside to take a picture of her Halloween costume. I felt terrible! But it is nearly healed up already.
DEVELOPMENT
Sitting: She's been able to sit for a while now, but lately she has also started to "dance" while she sits, and wave her arms. She can lean forward to eat her feet, and twist around to get whatever she wants. I'm also excited for her to learn how to wave and clap. We've been trying to teach her to clap, but she just waves her arms up and down a few times and then puts her hands together. Adorable.
Crawling: She's getting quicker! She crawls with her right hand open and her left hand in a fist. It is really quite endearing. When she is on a hard surface (our hardwood), she also only puts her right knee down and uses her left foot.
Standing: Rooney can pull herself to stand on almost everything - our couches, coffee table, bookshelf, us, exersaucer, baby gate, etc. Eric also taught her how to get down, and she is really good at it. She gets stronger every day.
Talking: No words quite yet. She sometimes says baba when he plays, and mama when she cries, but I don't think she has any idea what they mean.
DAY CARE
A day care switch will always be hard, I think. I felt more prepared this time considering we've already gone through it once before. I understand that it will take time for them to learn her signals and personality, and for me to learn how to best communicate with them. They have been great to work with so far, love being around Roo, and are amazed that she can do so much at her age.
A few things we love about the day care is that they send out a newsletter, have events like trick-or-treating through the office, pajama day, a Thanksgiving feast for family to attend, and Scholastic book orders. We are new to experiencing what it's like to use a day care center.
PERSONALITY + TEMPERAMENT
We are starting to see a lot of my qualities in Rooney. She is just like her mama on a lot of things, although she does look a lot like Eric's baby photos. We get lots of comments on how chill and laid back she is. She doesn't show too much emotion, unless she's really happy or really sad. She's a good little baby.
Occasionally she will show a little separation anxiety. It's normal at this age, but I wonder if it's also happening now that she gets to see me more now, and that she's at a new day care. For instance, she'll be playing in her room, and I'll be watching her or working in there, and if I leave the room she gets fussy and comes to find me. She also cries sometimes when I visit her at day care and then leave to go back to work.
FUN + FUNNY THINGS
Halloween: It was fun to dress Roo up for her first Halloween as a friendly ghost. My sister made the onesie last year for her daughter, and Eric's mom made the tutu and white pants. I had the day off, so we were able to visit Eric at work. He had a costume as well!
Eyes: I read that her eye color is pretty much set now. We got ourselves a brown-eyed girl!
Laughing: Rooney makes us laugh all the time! She blows raspberries (often after we've said something like "Are you ready for a nap?", making it seem like she's mocking us). We also love when she laughs at herself and us - it is hilarious!
[tentblogger-vimeo 51556111]
Wednesdays: I have absolutely loved my two Wednesdays at home with her so far. I am amazed at how much time I spend babyproofing. As hard as I tried, she found a pen while I was washing bottles...haha!
Family: We had a couple family get-togethers this month, and Rooney got to spend more time with our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It is really special to see great-grandparents with their great-grandchildren! I hope when I'm a great-grandma that I can get down on the floor with my great-grandkids. (Roo's Bessa - my mom's mom - is particularly fabulous!)
Favorites: If you missed our favorite baby products, be sure to check out that post as well.