So, what are Clara and Emma up to at 8 months. Quite a bit!
This month has been their second month on solid foods and they are enjoying them quite a bit. Mommy added a third meal, lunch, at 7 1/2 months. The girls generally eat oatmeal and a fruit for breakfast- favorites include mango, papaya, applesauce and prunes. For lunch, the ladies enjoy soy yogurt (Mommy did this first because Emma has a milk allergy), and either a fruit, like peaches or avocado/banana or pumpkin. Dinner has included pastina or multi grain cereal, elbow macaroni, and a vegetable. They enjoy gerber puffs and have had cherrios too. They've had proteins, including tofu, turkey, chicken and Daddy's favorite, beef. They've also had mini organic waffles. They eat in the bumbo seats and love holding the spoons and biting down on them. Emma particularly likes to put it in the wrong way, which Mommy and Daddy tell her not to do, but she doesn't like to listen. Clara loves to put her fingers in the bowl and mush the food around and is generally messy after a meal. Clara is off the prevacid and Emma is on a lower dose and doing okay.
The girls generally wake up between 6:45-7. Mommy and Daddy now give them solids first and then let them play and sometimes watch a little Sesame Street. Emma sees Elmo on tv and screams- Aunt Alyssa will be proud! At 8, Mommy gives them a bottle and then they play some more. By 8:45-9, they are ready for a nap. Emma still has a tough time going down for naps- whether in the "nap area" in Mommy and Daddy's room or the crib. She screams and cries and is inconsolable. Mommy found that if she put her in the stroller and didn't move it, Emma turned her head, licked the Bundle Me and fell asleep in seconds. Clara still has an easier time falling asleep and once she finds her fingers and starts sucking, she is out! Mommy and Daddy can't complain, the girls sleep through the night. After the morning nap, the girls play some more and by 11, Mommy changes them and gives the girls their lunch, followed at 11:30 by a bottle. Usually by 12 they are ready for another nap. This longer nap is usually an hour or two. After they wake up and play, they have another bottle at 3. Mommy usually takes them on a walk at around 3:30-4 and the girls take their 3rd nap in the stroller. Mommy gives Clara and Emma solids at 5 and then a bath and a bedtime bottle at 6. By 6:30, the girls go down for the night in the "nap area" and then are moved their cribs at around 8:30.
This month brought two front teeth for the girls. And, interstingly, these teeth came in at the same time. Mommy found out the hard way that they can both bite. Emma has had two fingers in her mouth all month and if they aren't, something else is. Clara also began to crawl this month. She started doing downward dog and then went backwards. Towards the end of the month, she began going forward. Emma, who preferred to sit up, started crawling more when Clara did, mostly going after the same toys and getting themselves into trouble. Also towards the end of the month, the girls have begun pulling themselves up to standing. Emma stood up in her crib for the first time today and Clara keeps pulling herself up on the couch and loves to be held while she is standing up.
Clara and Emma are interested in the same toys. They love their o-ball, their haba wood rattles, the squish toy, Octi the Octopus, , the big green ball, the playskool balls that make noise when they roll, Fred the dog, the Munchkin music cubs and the Leap Frog drum. They like to climb on Mommy and have wrestlemania with Daddy. They also seem to love when people open and close the front door and start laughing.
The girls had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Frome and got to see Grandma and Grandpa Gornstein quite a bit. They also enjoyed playing with Aunt Alyssa and are still waiting for her to change one of their diapers.
They are in 6-12 month clothes, although some things are still big on Emma and some things are just fitting them. It all depends on the brand. They are now in size 3 cruiser diapers, mostly because they are on the move...
It should be noted that Clara has been much more outgoing and is smiling often and engaging with people as much as Emma. Mommy and Daddy thought she was shy, but are proven wrong time and time again.
