At eight months old Kye can do all of the things that What to Expect the First Year says he “should” be able to do including:
- bear some weight on legs when held upright
- feed self a cracker
- rake with fingers an object and pick it up with fist
- turn in direction of a voice
- look for a dropped object
He can do all of the things an eight month old “will probably” or “may possibly” be able to do and some of the things an eight month old “may even be able” to do including:
- pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other
- stand holding on to someone or something
- object if you try to take a toy away
- work to get a toy that’s out of reach
- play peekaboo
- get into a sitting position from stomach
- creep or crawl
- pull up to standing position from sitting
- pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger
- say “mama” or “dad” indiscriminately (just “dada” right now)
- understand “no” (but not always obey it)
Things Kye can’t quite do yet include:
- play patty-cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye
- walk holding on to furniture (cruise)
- stand alone momentarily
This months chapter discusses a lot of things that I’ve already covered. It talks about introducing finger foods and I did that awhile ago!!! I actually referenced this section when I decided to start feeding him finger foods as the Babywise Blog Lady used it for ideas of what to give her children. It recommends: whole-wheat bagels (check), whole-wheat bread or toast, rice cakes or other crackers that become mushy (check), oat circle cereals, wheat or rice puffs, tiny cubes of pasteurized cheese (check), chunks of ripe banana (check), ripe pear (check), peach (check), apricot, cantaloupe (check), honeydew (check) or mango, small chunks of cooked carrot (check), white or sweet potato (check), yam, broccoli or cauliflower, soft meatballs, well cooked pasta, and scrambled or hard boiled egg yoke (check). Re-reading this I think I’ve done pretty well so far at introducing him to a variety of foods!
This chapter also covers sign language (which I’ve already been doing), reading to your child (I can’t imagine waiting until my kid is 8 months old to start reading to him!), as well as people being concerned with their baby not crawling yet and thinking that when they say “dada” they actually MEAN “dada.” Come on people! One thing I did learn from this chapter was that it’s not going to kill my child to eat food (and dirt) off the floor. That’s a good thing b/c he does it all the time! haha! When something falls off his high chair I just pick it up and feed it to him. And when he’s “crawling” around he tends to like to lick stuff and I just let him. I figure that it hasn’t killed me yet so it shouldn’t bother him too much and so far it hasn’t. I also feel like letting him be exposed to some germs is good for his immune system! Thankfully, this book agrees with me!
I also appreciated the section on childproofing. I may not agree on hardcore childproofing like they do (or that my kid has to wear flame-retardant sleepwear, I just don’t get that…if there is a fire I don’t think his pjs will stop it from burning him?!) but I do agree that people learn from making mistakes and it’s important not to hover over Kye while he is on the move. He needs to be safely-curious and learn about his world and he can’t do that if I’m always right there protecting him. Now that Kye is mobile he falls alllll the time. If we’re playing on the hard wood floor or tile then yeah I try to catch him but most of the time I don’t make a big deal of it when he wipes out. It’s going to happen and my reaction decides how he will react. If he cries I always offer comfort but I don’t go on and on about it. I give him a hug say “that’s okay” then let him go back and play. I don’t say “oh poor baby” or “bad floor for hurting my baby” or freak out. I keep a smile on my face and a happy tone to let him know that it really is ok! He honestly rarely cries when he falls. He just typically bounces right back to whatever he was doing. Maybe it’s because I have a son and somewhere inside me I think boy=tough but I’m hoping that if I ever have a girl I’ll be just as willing to let her learn the way I’m letting Kye!
As far as childproofing goes I’ve covered a couple outlets and that’s it. We have some “danger” items within reach of my little one including some breakables on our front foyer table but I never let Kye even come close to this area of the house. I am very cautious with the window blinds and always raise them for him and tuck the cord plenty out of reach. I have yet to install anything on any of the cabinets. Even though this chapter says to go ahead and do all these things, my child never has free reign in my home. If he’s in a living area of the house he’s under constant supervision and if he’s in his room or another safe zone he’s only left alone for up to 2 minutes at a time. If I’m unable to keep a safe and constant watch on him then he’s either in the pack and play, in the play pin, in the jumperoo, in the high chair (when cleaning up after he eats), in the bumbo (watching his movie) or safely secured in his seat in the bathroom (while I’m getting ready). I know at some point we will probably have to do more baby proofing but I don’t think there will be a need for it until he’s at least walking!
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